No Pretty Penny for Copper

Battered by cheap imports from Chile, Peru and Zaire, U.S. copper mining has been tarnished in the past few years. The twelve major producers now employ a mere 25,000 workers, down 50% in ten years, and the mines, primarily in the Rocky Mountain states, are running at 60% of capacity. Copper consumption is up 14% this year from last, but American mines simply cannot match competitors in the Third World. They have kept output high and prices down to around 60-c- per lb., vs. the 82-c- average cost of U.S. production. Despite those troubles, the Reagan Administration last week refused to protect the industry by limiting or taxing the foreign copper entering the U.S. In turning down a recommendation by the International Trade Commission to grant protection, critics charged, Reagan was trying to sustain a free-trade image in the election campaign by ruling against a small, shrinking industry. Politically less safe will be his decision on steel-import quotas, due by Sept. 24, which 240,000 unionized steelworkers are anxiously awaiting.