Copper output at Codelco slips nearly 11% in July

Copper output from Chilean state miner Codelco fell 10.7% in July from a year earlier, copper commission Cochilco said on Wednesday, as the world’s largest copper company grapples to halt a decline in production.

Codelco produced 111,400 metric tons of copper in July, while other key miners saw mixed results.

Codelco has been struggling to boost production, which last year hit a quarter-century low. The company declined to comment on July results.

CEO Ruben Alvarado told local newspaper Diario Financiero in a recent interview that August production would surpass 115,000 tons, compared with 103,500 tons last year, marking an upward climb.

“The production plan for the second half of the year means that each month we’re going to be ahead of last year, to end the year with an increase with respect to 2023,” Alvarado said.

The company previously said it expected production to be stronger in the second half of the year than the first, after registering an 8.4% drop in the January-to-June period versus last year.

Alvarado also told the newspaper that capital expenditures next year would reach about $5 billion, surpassing this year’s spending of $4.7 billion.

According to Cochilco, the BHP-controlled Escondida mine lifted its production of the red metal in July by 29%, compared with the same month last year, to reach 106,500 tons. Meanwhile, the Collahuasi mine, jointly run by Glencore and Anglo American, saw output shrink 6% to 47,000 tons.

(By Fabian Cambero and Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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