Escondida’s Copper Production Ramps Up


After suffering production setbacks earlier in the year, Minera Escondida’s production returned to
normal in the third quarter.
Minera Escondida has finally shaken off the effects of a labor strike that impacted production at the mine for 44 days between February and March. The mining company, which is owned by BHP, reported that copper production had increased by 23% to 268,000 tons during the third quarter of 2017.

According to the company, the increase was due to the start of the operation of the Los Colorados Extension project during September, plus higher average ore grade and higher amounts of ore processed. The company has calculated that Los Colorados will reach peak capacity in the last quarter of 2017, thus allowing the use of three concentrators and a production that ranges around 1.2 million tons for fiscal year 2018 (July 2017-June 2018).

BHP’s Chilean operations increased its copper production by 14% to 404,000 tons, while its estimate for fiscal year 2018 remains between 1,655,000 tons and 1,790,000 tons.

As featured in Womp 2017 Vol 11 - www.womp-int.com