Copper Mining Giant To Cut Production

Chilean miner Antofagasta is expecting annual copper production for 2022 to be below last year’s levels, as operations continue to be impacted by the home country’s longest drought in decades. The company, which already saw 2021 copper production drop by 1.7% to 721,500 tonnes, anticipates churning out between 660,000 to 690,000 tonnes of copper this year due to mix of lower grades at some operations, and water shortages. Antofagasta’s flagship mine Los Pelambres has been one of the company’s operations hardest hit by the lack of rainfall. Chile’s central region alone, where the mine is located and home to the majority of both the country’s population and key copper mines, has seen rainfall decrease by more than 30% over the last 20 years.

Source: Mining.com