Barrick Gold also produced 82 million pounds of copper, a drop from the 98 million pounds produced in the fourth quarter of 2009.

FORBES: Surging Gold Prices Take Barrick Gold's Profits To Record Highs

Copper saw a price drop and also saw speculators slice net-long positions accordingly.

FORBES: FOCUS: Speculators Start Buying Precious Metals Futures, Options Again -CFTC

All the precious metals saw an increase in net-long positions, while there was a slight drop in copper net-long positions by speculators.

FORBES: CORRECTION - Speculators Continue To Build Bullish Gold Positions - CFTC

The steep drop in copper prices observed in February came after China announced steps to curb the rapid rise in real estate prices by making it tougher to purchase homes.

FORBES: Wimpy Global Economy Will Drag On Freeport McMoRan's Earnings

Unfortunately, with traditional copper lines, once you cross six or seven miles, they drop off to half a meg, if you can even get that.

BBC: Rural county sees struggles with speed

Speculators remain net short in copper for both the disaggregated and the legacy report, but saw the net short position drop.

FORBES: FOCUS: Funds Pile Back Into Gold - CFTC

Speculators remain net short in copper for both the disaggregated and the legacy report, but saw the net-short position drop.

FORBES: FOCUS: Speculators Continue To Cut Exposure To Most Metals- CFTC

The drop in first-quarter production was due to major scheduled plant maintenance during the first quarter, lower copper grades and lower recovery.

FORBES: Yamana Supports Argentine Government's Objectives Of Controlling Inflation