On February 15, 2013 zinc added 0.9 percent, but later fell slightly to $2,193 per ton on the London Metal Exchange. According to Bloomberg, investors started buying the metal after the meteorite fell in the Chelyabinsk region.
A shock wave caused by the blast destroyed a wall in a concentrate warehouse at the local zinc plant site and smashed windows in other buildings. The shares of Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant fell 1.8 percent on the Moscow Stock Exchange. At the same time, representatives of the plant said that it is working as usual.
Bloomberg said zinc purchases could be the reaction followed immediately after the news when there was no exact information about the damages and the number of people hurt. On February 15, 2013 a meteorite shower could be seen in Chelyabinsk, Tyumen, Sverdlovsk regions of Russia, and in Kazakhstan as well. It was the Chelyabinsk region that bore the brunt of the falling meteorite. Hundreds of homes sustained damage from broken glass, gas supply and cell phone service disruptions.
