Chilean state miner Codelco, the world’s biggest copper miner, said in a statement on Thursday that its production for the first three months of 2024 landed near 300,000 metric tons.
“We are recovering and will continue to do so,” Codelco chair Maximo Pacheco told lawmakers from a committee visiting its major Teniente mining complex.
“All of our workers are working hard to meet our production goal and reverse the situation we’ve experienced of falling production and key project delays.”
Pacheco said lower production over the last few years could be explained by lower ore grades, a pit wall collapse and disruptions in project ramp ups as well as weather and seismic events in the South American country, which sits atop a tectonic belt of earthquakes and volcanoes.
Delays in projects getting approved also forced several large projects to begin at the same time, he added.
Committee leader Senator Juan Luis Castro said decisions must be made more quickly and that Codelco’s top leaders would be called on again this month to give more information and to discuss what lawmakers can do regarding the miner’s future, according to Codelco.
Codelco, which has also been tasked with negotiating public-private partnerships with lithium miners as Chile looks to boost state control over the key battery metal industry, last year hit its lowest output level in a quarter of a century.
(By Natalia Ramos and Sarah Morland; Editing by Valentine Hilaire and Kylie Madry)
