Chilean copper production fell 3.6% month on month in June to 474,740 mt following a strike at the state-owned Chuquicamata mine, according to government data released Wednesday.
The total also represents a fall of 0.9% compared with output in the same month in 2018, the data show.
In a statement, statistics agency INE said that while production at some major mines had been boosted by higher ore grades and ore throughput, stoppages at other operations affected total production.
Around 3,200 unionized employees at the Chuquicamata mining and smelting complex in northern Chile went on strike for two weeks in late June after pay talks ended without agreement. State-owned copper company Codelco said the protest roughly halved production at the division.
Chuquicamata produced 320,000 mt of copper in 2018.
Copper production in Chile during the first six months of 2019 totaled 2.785 million mt, down 2.7% compared with the same period in 2018, reflecting the impact of torrential rains in February, lower ore grades and maintenance shutdowns in the early part of the year.
The sector's weak start to 2019 has forced analysts to cut their production forecasts. Earlier in July, the Chilean Copper Commission predicted production would reach 5.83 million mt this year, matching 2018's record but below its previous forecast of almost 6.0 million mt.
Chile's molybdenum production fell 19.4% year on year in June to 3,894 mt, the data show.
During the first half of 2019, output of the metal, produced as a byproduct in several of Chile's largest copper mines, totaled 26,456 mt, down 11.4% compared with the same period in 2018.
Chile's gold production in June rose 17.1% year on year to 3,253 kg and increased 13.0% year on year during the first six months of the year to 18,854 kg, according to INE.
The country's silver production in June fell 5.3% year on year to 96,736 kg and by 7.2% to 563,646 kg in the first six months of the year, the data show.
Source: Platts |
