Codelco working very hard to boost copper output, CEO says

Chile’s state-run Codelco is working “very hard” to recover its copper production level, CEO Ruben Alvarado said on Tuesday, as the copper giant grapples with a 25-year low in output.

Codelco registered an 8.4% drop in production in the first half of the year, but is targeting a turn-around in the coming months to end 2024 slightly above last year.

“We are working very hard on this, we have a plan through 2030 to progressively recover production, until reaching 1.7 million tons” annually, he told Reuters during a visit to the company’s operations center in Rancagua, south of the capital of Santiago.

He added that Saudi Arabia mining officials who he met with the day before showed interest in Codelco’s Maricunga lithium project, and other potential opportunities for working together.

“They showed interest in various things that … ultimately are of mutual interest,” he said, noting Codelco is open to partnering with international governments.

(By Fabian Cambero and Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Chris Reese)