Codelco copper recovery on track with output up 9% in first half

Codelco posted a 9% production increase in the first half compared with a year earlier, signaling that the world’s biggest copper supplier is on track in its recovery efforts.

Chairman Maximo Pacheco announced the result at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the nationalization of the El Teniente mine in central Chile. He didn’t give details, and it was unclear if the number included Codelco’s share of output from mines it doesn’t operate.

Codelco is looking to get back to pre-pandemic production levels over the coming years after output slumped to the lowest in a quarter century due to deteriorating ore quality and operational and project setbacks, threatening its status as the world’s top supplier. Underpinning the recovery are efforts to push forward with late and over-budget projects to tap richer areas of its aging mines.

The state-owned company is scheduled to release first-half results on Aug. 1, according to a calendar on its website.

(By James Attwood)

Read More: Codelco in ‘wait-and-see’ mode after Trump tariff bombshell