Chile’s top miners saw their production of copper fall in August, Chilean state copper commission Cochilco said on Monday, impacted in part by a strike at a mine owned by state miner Codelco.
Codelco, the world’s largest copper miner, saw output in August fall off by 6.7% year-on-year to 144,500 tonnes, Cochilco said, dogged by a prolonged strike at its Andina mine near Santiago late in the month.
BHP’s Escondida, the world’s largest copper mine, saw production drop 14% year-on-year to 81,500 tonnes in the same month.
The sprawling Escondida has curtailed some operations since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and imposition of restrictions, including reducing cathode production, resulting in 13 straight months of declining production.
At the Collahuasi copper mine – a joint venture by Glencore and Anglo American – production fell 19.7% year-on-year to 48,200 tonnes in August, the agency said.
Copper output in Chile, the world’s top copper producer, dropped 4.6% year-on-year in August to 461,900 tonnes, the agency said.
(By Fabian Cambero and Dave Sherwood; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
Comments