The Morning Ledger: Lured Out of Retirement, a CFO Returns to the Trenches - btbirkett@gmail.com - Gmail

The Morning Ledger: Lured Out of Retirement, a CFO Returns to the Trenches - btbirkett@gmail.com - Gmail

Freeport-McMoRan's Cerro Verde copper mi! ne in Peru is spread over 150,000 acres and will eventually produce a billion pounds of copper a year, 3% of the world’s production. John W. Miller/The Wall Street Journal

Supermines feed vicious metals circle. Giant mines, begun when prices were high, are adding to the oversupply of copper, iron ore and other metals, compounding the woes of the depressed mining sector. The big mines cost so much to build and extract minerals so efficiently that mothballing them is unthinkable—running them generates cash to pay down debts, and huge mines are expensive to simply maintain while idle. But as a result, their scale means they are helping miners dig thems! elves even deeper into the price trough by adding to a glut.