Chile’s state-run copper miner, Codelco, posted flat production in October compared to the same month last year while the country’s largest copper mine, BHP’s Escondida, saw output jump more than a fifth, data from copper commission Cochilco showed on Tuesday.
Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer that is struggling to boost declining output, posted total production of 127,900 metric tons, unchanged from last year.
The company’s own production, excluding minority stakes in Freeport McMoRan’s El Abra and the local unit of Anglo American, amounted to 119,900 tons, a 0.5% increase from the year before.
The figure is 2.9% above a target set by Codelco in its 2024 plan for 116,500 tons, according to an internal document previously seen by Reuters.
Reuters reported last month that a separate Codelco internal memo showed output in October would exceed its target by that amount.
The company is aiming to speed up production to meet its annual targets in an effort to revive output from a 25-year low.
Copper output at the BHP-controlled Escondida mine rose 22% during the month to reach 108,000 tons, while at the Collahuasi mine, jointly run by miners Glencore and Anglo American, production of the key industrial metal fell nearly 10% to total 49,500 tons, the data showed.
In total, Chile’s production rose 6.4% from October 2023 to 488,900 tons.
(By Fabian Andres Cambero and Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Anthony Esposito, Brendan O’Boyle and Sandra Maler)
