(CNN) Five miners died in a South African copper mine Sunday after a fire trapped the workers underground, the country's Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union said.

One miner was still trapped in the Phalaborwa Mining Company in Limpopo, north of Johannesburg, the union said.

The fire began on Sunday around 1:25 a.m., according to the union. The workers were ordered to evacuate to the nearest refugee chamber, a protective chamber, the union said.

MEDIA RELEASE: AMCU MOURNS DEATH OF FIVE TRAPPED WORKERS IN BURNING COPPER MINE. AMCU has learnt with sadness of the death of five workers at Phalaborwa Mining Company. pic.twitter.com/w5lYIv3wv7 — Amcu (@_AMCU) July 15, 2018

A team later found the bodies of two miners, and a survivor, but high temperatures, which reached 67 degrees Celsius (roughly 152 degrees Fahrenheit), made rescue efforts difficult, the union said. The bodies of three mine workers were later recovered from the chamber, the union said.

The injured worker was taken to a hospital, according to the union.

Read More</s>A sixth miner has died after Sunday’s accident at a copper mine in South Africa’s northern Limpopo province. Reports says a conveyor belt caught fire.

Miners were then instructed to evacuate to the closest refuge chamber as temperatures “rose to [between] 64 and 67 degrees Celsius, [which] made the rescue efforts impossible,” news site IOL quotes a statement from the Associated Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu).

There were 200 workers underground at the mine, owned by the Phalaborwa Mining Company, when the fire broke out, most of whom were safely brought to the surface.

Some of them have been receiving treatment in nearby hospitals. The mine is in the northern Limpopo province, one of the poorest areas in South Africa.

The National Union of Mineworkers (Num) called mine companies to put lives ahead of profits.

In a statement it said: “As the Num, we vehemently condemn this kind of incident as there is a high number of fatalities in the mining industry in South Africa this year.”

“We call upon employers to put lives of mineworkers first so that we can be able to achieve zero harm and zero death in the mining industry.”

Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe sent condolence messages to the families of miners who died.</s>At least five miners in South Africa were killed Sunday following an underground fire, the government said, while a rescue operation was ongoing for the sole survivor.

A conveyor belt at a mine operated by Palabora Copper in northeastern Limpopo province caught fire, trapping the six staff underground, the company said in a statement.

“Five employees have now been confirmed dead at Palabora Mining. The search for one employee continues,” wrote South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources on its Twitter account.

“An investigation will commence once the last remaining employee is found and the fire underground has been contained and the area declared safe.”

In its statement, Palabora Copper said that “mine management, officials from the Department of Mineral Resources and organised labour are currently on the mine investigating the cause of the incident”.

South Africa has been rocked by several fatal accidents at its economically vital mines since the beginning of the year.

Four miners were killed following an incident at a gold mine operated by Sibanye Stillwater last month.

Earlier this year, 955 workers at another Sibanye gold mine were trapped underground for more than a day after a power outage caused by storm. They were rescued unharmed.</s>JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Five miners died on Sunday in a fire at a South African copper mine operated by unlisted Palabora Mining Company, the company said in a statement.

Safety is a huge issue in South Africa’s deep and dangerous mines and increasingly a focus for investors. A spate of deaths at Sibanye-Stillwater’s gold operations, including a seismic event that killed seven miners in early May, has highlighted the risks they face.

Palabora said the latest incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday at one of its underground conveyer belts, and that mine management, government officials and organised labour were on the scene investigating.

South Africa is not a major copper producer and most fatal accidents occur in its deep-level gold and platinum mines.</s>Five miners died and one remains missing following a fire at a South African copper mine on Sunday

According to the South African Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), the fire broke out at 1.25am local time (12.25am BST) on Sunday morning at the Palabora Mining Company in Limpopo, north of Johannesburg.

The AMCU commented on the deaths, saying: “AMCU mourns the death of five trapped workers in a burning copper mine.

“One mineworker remains trapped after a fire broke out underground in the early hours of this morning, and one worker is recovering in hospital.

“AMCU prays for the safe evacuation of the remaining mineworker and sends its condolences to the loved ones of those who passed away.”

The fire reportedly started at conveyor belt number 5 and workers were ordered to evacuate to the closest refuge chamber.</s>(Bloomberg) -- South African labor unions said the government and mining industry failed to take adequate steps to improve worker safety, as six people died in a fire at a copper mine.

A sixth body was recovered at Palabora Mining Co.’s mine in Limpopo province, after a blaze erupted at an underground conveyor belt early on Sunday, Joseph Mathunjwa, president of the Association of Mineworkers & Construction Union, said by phone.

“We want more accountability” and other measures in order to improve safety, he said.

The fatalities at Palabora add to at least 47 reported mine deaths so far this year in South Africa. A focus on safety has mainly fallen on Sibanye Gold Ltd., whose mines have claimed 21 in the country. Sibanye, labor unions and the Department of Mineral Resources last month pledged to form a plan of action to address health and safety.

“We vehemently condemn this kind of incident as there is a high number of fatalities in the mining industry in South Africa this year,” the National Union of Mineworkers said Monday in an emailed statement. “We further urge the Department of Mineral Resources, which is the regulator, to play its role in ensuring that mines are safe and put the safety of the mineworkers as a priority.”

Palabora Mining operates an underground mine that produces 80,000 metric tons of copper ore a year, according to the company’s website. It was sold by Rio Tinto Group and Anglo American Plc to a consortium of investors including Hebei Iron & Steel Group Mining Co., China’s largest steelmaker, in a deal concluded in 2013.

The Department of Mineral Resources said it would issue a statement later on Monday.

To contact the reporters on this story: Paul Burkhardt in Johannesburg at pburkhardt@bloomberg.net;Eric Ombok in Nairobi at eombok@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Kingdon at ckingdon@bloomberg.net, Paul Richardson, Liezel Hill</s>Singapore : London copper slid on Friday and the market was set for a fifth consecutive week of losses on concerns about weaker demand amid a U.S.-China trade row.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange lost 0.3 percent to $6,209.50 a tonne by 0556 GMT while the most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange gained 0.5 percent to 48,720 yuan ($7,309.06) a tonne.

"We had already seen the slowdown in demand which is now being exacerbated by the trade war or rhetoric around tariffs," said Guy Wolf, global head of market analytics at Marex Spectron in Singapore.

"We have seen the bulk of the decline in prices but it might be little early to think that it is all over.

"LME copper has fallen more than 15 percent in five weeks of losses. A trade war between Washington and Beijing has raised concerns over demand in top industrial metals consumer China.</s>JOHANNESBURG, July 15 (Reuters) - Five miners died on Sunday in a fire at a South African copper mine operated by unlisted Palabora Mining Company, the company said in a statement.

The company said the incident occurred in the early hours on Sunday at one of its underground conveyer belts and that mine management, government officials and organised labour were investigating. (Reporting by Ed Stoddard. Editing by Jane Merriman)</s>MELBOURNE, July 16 (Reuters) - London copper edged higher on Monday as markets awaited China's second-quarter economic growth data for clues on how a local debt crackdown and trade tariffs from the United States could be affecting demand.

* LME COPPER: London Metal Exchange copper nudged up to $6,243.50 a tonne by 0105 GMT, after closing little changed on Friday. Prices last week slumped to the lowest since in almost a year at $6,081 a tonne on concerns that an escalation in trade tariffs would dent demand. Prices have shed 14 percent this year.

* SHFE COPPER: Shanghai Futures Exchange copper edged up 0.6 percent to 49,100 yuan ($7,339) a tonne, recovering for a third trading session since last week's one year trough.

* CHINA ECONOMY: China is expected to report a modest slowdown in second-quarter economic growth on Monday, as the government's efforts to tackle debt risks crimp activity and a trade war with the United States threatens exports.

* US ECONOMY: The Federal Reserve on Friday pointed to "solid" U.S. economic growth during the first half of the year in its semi-annual report to Congress, where it also reiterated that it expected to continue to raise interest rates gradually.

* COPPER: Former workers from Peru's La Oroya metallurgical plant have teamed up with a consortium of Chinese and Swedish companies to buy the dormant mining complex and a small copper mine in partnership for some $139 million, a union leader said on Friday.

* INVESTORS: Copper speculators switched to a net short position of 12,919 contracts, cutting 20,241 contracts, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in its latest report. This was the weakest position since December 2016.

* For the top stories in metals and other news, click or

* Asian shares were lower on Monday, brushing off the firmer Wall Street lead as investor caution dominated ahead of the release of key Chinese economic data, which is expected to show signs of a slowdown.</s>VANCOUVER, July 12, 2018 Â /CNW/ -Â Copper Mountain Mining Corporation (TSX: CMMC) (ASX: C6C) (the "Company" or "Copper Mountain")Â is pleased to announceÂ production results for Q2 2018 from the Copper Mountain Mine, located in southern British Columbia.
• Q2 Production: 23.1 million pounds of copper equivalent, which includes 20 million pounds of copper, 6,500 ounces of gold and 68,400 ounces of silver.
• H1 2018 production: 46 million pounds of copper equivalent, which includes 39.9 million pounds of copper, 12,600 oz gold and 146,300 oz silver.
• On track for 2018 production guidance: Copper Mountain's 2018 guidance for copper production remains unchanged at 80 million pounds (+/- 5%).
• Mining production: Open pit mining averaged 214,500 tonnes per day, 13% above guidance of 190,000 tpd.
• Mill throughput: Milling averaged 37,000 tonnes per day. Total tonnes milled during the period was 3.4 million tonnes at an average head grade of 0.335% copper, and recovery of 80.5%.

Mr. Gil Clausen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Copper Mountain, said "The operation performed well during the quarter, with production higher year over year. Copper Mountain is demonstrating consistent and solid production and we are on track to achieve annual guidance."

Production in the second quarter of 2018 was 23.1 million pounds of copper equivalent (which includes 20 million pounds of copper, 6,500 ounces of gold and 68,400 ounces of silver), which was 13% higher than the second quarter of 2017 and in line with the first quarter of 2018. The Company expects production in the second half of the year to be stronger than the first half of the year, as production was marginally impacted in the second quarter by a reduction in mill throughput as a result of the replacement of two mill transformers and a SAG mill liner change.Â Higher grade ore was processed during this period of time to offset this impact.Â The Company remains on track to achieve 2018 production guidance of approximately 80 million pounds of copper.

During the Quarter, the Company accelerated the installation of two oil filled transformers for the SAG Mill, which are expected to be commissioned by the end of July 2018.Â The mine will therefore have two spare dry transformers for the remaining four ball mill transformers in service.Â The Company plans to replace the remaining four dry transformers with four oil filled transformers systematically during planned maintenance periods over the next year.Â

Mining activities continued from the Pit 2, Saddle and Pit 3 areas during the second quarter of 2018.Â A total of 19.5 million tonnes of material was mined, including 4 million tonnes of ore and 15.5 million tonnes of waste, resulting in a strip ratio ofÂ 3.8 to 1.Â The increased strip ratio was planned as the mining area between the Pits is being expanded as the next pushback on Pit 2 West has now begun.

Q2 2018 Financial and Operating Results Conference Call and Webcast

Copper Mountain will release Q2 2018 Financial and Operating before the market opens on Tuesday, August 7, 2018. The Company will hold a conference call on Tuesday, August 7, 2018 at 7:30 am (Pacific Standard Time) for management to discuss the Q2 2018 Financial and Operating Results.Â

Copper Mountain's flagship asset is the Copper Mountain mine, located in southern British Columbia near the town of Princeton. The Company has a strategic alliance with Mitsubishi Materials Corporation who owns 25% of the mine. The Copper Mountain mine has a large resource of copper that remains open laterally and at depth. This significant exploration potential is being explored to maximize the property's full development potential.Â Copper Mountain's Cloncurry project in Queensland, Australia, includes the development-ready Eva Copper Project and an extensive exploration potential within the Company's 379,000 hectare highly prospective land package within the Mount Isa area.

Additional information is available on the Company's web page at www.CuMtn.com.

On behalf of the Board of

Note:Â This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties.Â These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results.Â Readers are referred to the documents, filed by the Company on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, specifically the most recent reports which identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements.Â The Company undertakes no obligation to review or confirm analysts' expectations or estimates or to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statement.
A fire in a copper mine in Limpopo, South Africa kills five and traps a sixth.