Storm halts part of Codelco copper production

OREANDA-NEWS. April 18, 2016. Chile's state-owned copper and molybdenum producer Codelco said late yesterday that production at its El Teniente mine in the centre of the country will be suspended for at least three days after infrastructure transporting ore and personnel suffered damage from ongoing heavy rainfall.

Lost production could run to 5,000t of copper, while operations are returned to normal, although Codelco gave no figure for molybdenum.

El Teniente produced 471,200t of copper in 2015 and 7,326t of molybdenum.

Several regions of Chile have been battered by a major weather front that caused flooding and mudslides overnight. More than 4.2mn people in and around the Santiago metropolitan region have been left without drinking water, and major arteries through the Santiago business district of Las Condes are shut down because of extensive flooding.

Workers have already begun the task of restoring operations at El Teniente but the timeline for the restart of production will depend on weather conditions.

Codelco's copper output in 2015 from its own mines reached a record 1.73mn t. Total production including metal brought in for processing from outside sources ran to 1.89mn t. Molybdenum output fell by 9.6pc to 28,000t.