According to foreign news on October 24, Cochilco released a report on Tuesday stating that mining costs for large copper mines in Chile continue to rise due to declining production and rising service costs.
The report covers the first half of this year and reports that direct costs reached 198.8 cents per pound, an increase of 39.6 cents year-on-year.
"Lower production volumes and higher third-party service costs, remuneration and material prices, electricity and TC-RC (treatment charges and refining charges) expenses were responsible for the higher costs in the first half," the report said. The report adds that smaller copper mines are most affected by rising costs.
The report sampled 22 copper mines, accounting for 93.5% of total production. Among them, the costs of 19 copper mines increased. The smallest copper producer in the sample produced 102,800 tons of copper.
The report noted that several factors offset the impact of higher costs, such as lower sulfuric acid, freight and diesel costs.