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Inmet CEO Jochen Tilk speaks at the shareholders meeting in Toronto on April 27, 2010.MARK BLINCH

Inmet Mining Corp. says foreign exchange losses pulled second-quarter profits down 27 per cent to $48.4-million.

The copper, zinc and gold mining company reported Tuesday that earnings were worth 86 cents per share in the three months ended June 30. That's off from $66.5-million, or $1.37 per share, a year ago.

For the quarter, Inmet said it was hit by $21-million of foreign exchange losses tied to its Cayeli mine in northeastern Turkey and its Pyhasalmi mine in central Finland.

Sales revenue rose to $215.1-million from $213-million.

Production levels at its Ok Tedi copper-gold mine in the southwestern Pacific island country of Papua New Guinea were down due to a labour dispute in April.

Inmet noted that the labour contract at Ok Tedi expires on Aug. 31 and the recent strike, which the company says is illegal, has added some uncertainty to future talks for a new agreement.

"We remain optimistic that a settlement can be reached without a strike," the company said in a release.

Inmet also missed targets at its Las Cruces mine in southern Spain where some equipment failures and other problems related to the operations cut its copper production to just over half of the 12,400 tonnes that was expected.

"We believe we have identified the key bottlenecks to production and we continue to take steps to significantly increase our operating reliability," Inmet said.

"We will continue with the rigorous implementation of the ramp up plan to achieve our goal of full production by the end of the year and we are encouraged by the capability that the plant has demonstrated in recent months."

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