Lundin says Chile mine restart after storm may take 2-3 weeks

Bloomberg News | July 27, 2026 | 10:19 am Top Companies Latin America

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Caserones copper mine is located in Chile’s arid north, close to the border with Argentina. (Image courtesy of Lumina Copper Chile.)

Lundin Mining (TSE: LUN) said it may take about two to three weeks to restart operations at one of its key copper mines in Chile after severe storms damaged infrastructure.

Heavy rain and snow last week damaged two power-line towers that serve Lundin’s Caserones mine, which has been without power since July 18, the Vancouver-based company said in a Monday statement. Teams have been mobilized to repair the damage, while access roads are being progressively reopened.

The outage could erase about 10,000 tons of copper output, putting Caserones guidance of 130,000 to 140,000 tons for this year at risk unless production rebounds in the fourth quarter, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Alon Olsha and Salma Belmaachi said in a Monday note.

Shares of Lundin fell as much as 3.3% in Toronto.

Chile is recovering from deadly winter rains that swelled rivers and triggered mudslides for days, as crews clear blocked segments of the copper-exporting country’s main highway in normally arid north-central regions. The storms also forced temporary disruptions at assets owned by Teck Resources Ltd., Codelco and Antofagasta Plc.

(By Sybilla Gross)