1.  Among the latest companies to offer their coal interests for sale are Chevron, the oil industry giant, and Cyprus Amax Minerals, a copper mining company.

2.  Codelco, the Chilean state-run copper company, issued a writ in December over losses suffered in the copper market.

3.  Codelco, the state-owned copper mining company, owns millions of hectares in northern Chile and small companies have a hard time competing.

4.  Copper mining companies, eager to cut costs, have switched their focus from older mines in North America and Australia to new projects in Latin America and Asia.

5.  Copper mining companies tend to sell when prices rally in order to lock in the prices before they fall, traders said.

6.  How well the copper companies are able to take advantage of the recent price rise also depends on increasing production and declining costs, analysts said.

7.  In Arizona, the government is negotiating with three copper companies with the idea of giving them land for expanding mines in exchange for tracts more suitable for conservation.

8.  It had been looking for a buyer, particularly for the world-class San Manuel smelter, but no copper companies were jumping at the chance in a slumping market.

9.  None of this is to say that the copper company is thriving.

10.  Other copper companies and the industry worldwide had been awaiting his action, in hopes it would reduce a global oversupply of copper and boost prices.