After 40 Years, Top Copper Producer Struggles to Stay Ahead

  • Codelco needs to invest more than $20 billion over next decade
  • Market questions Chilean miner’s might, sees lower production
The Chuquicamata open pit copper mine in Chile.Photographer: Cristobal Olivares/Bloomberg
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Over more than a century, miners have been digging an open pit in northern Chile that’s now more than four times the size of New York’s Central Park.

The Chuquicamata mine has helped Codelco dominate the copper market as the world’s number one producer of the metal. Now, the state-owned company is at risk of losing that title.