Top Copper Producer Chile Forecasts Record Output as BHP Expands
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Chile, the world’s biggest copper-producing nation, said output probably will reach a record high this year as BHP Billiton Ltd. ramps up supply and state-owned Codelco starts a new mine in the Atacama Desert.
Production from mines rose 3.2 percent last year to 5.43 million metric tons from 5.26 million tons in 2011, Mining Minister Hernan de Solminihac said in a presentation in Santiago today. Output will rise 3 percent to 5.6 million tons this year, exceeding a record 5.56 million tons set in 2007, and total 5.75 million tons in 2014, according to estimates released by the government’s copper commission Cochilco.