Chile's largest mines are apparently undamaged, but the potential for disruptions on deliveries from the mine and interruption of power supplies--caused by a massive earthquake that killed more than 700 people and displaced two million-appeared to already impact copper prices early today.

Copper jumped to its highest level in five weeks on the LME early this morning.

Copper for three-month delivery surged as much as 5.6% to $7,600 a tonne, the highest price since January 20th. The contract traded at $7,462 a ton at 11:44 a.m. Monday in Shanghai.

Despite the earthquake, the world's largest copper producer, state-owned Codelco, said it will meet its supply contracts.

The company had closed its El Teniente complex and Andina mine due to power outages, while Anglo American shut its Los Bronces and El Soldado mines. However, Codelco said El Teniente had resumed operations and Andina operations were expected to resume late Sunday.

Eoin Treacy's view Chile has just experienced a terrible tragedy and while the human cost is high, this has not been a crippling blow for the country's economy. The stock and currency markets have been steady today, benefitting at least in part from being closed over the weekend.

Copper has been pushing higher within the current range for the last couple of weeks and surged early this morning only to give up most of the advance as it became apparent that Codelco would meet its contracts. While prices may pause in the region of the January high near 350¢, a sustained move back below 315¢ would be required to question potential for further higher to lateral ranging.