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Chile September Copper Output Grows 4.3% on the Year to 460,552 Tons

iconOct 31, 2012 08:44
Source:SMM
Copper output in Chile, the world's largest copper producer, was up 4.3% year-on-year in September to 460,552 metric tons, the government statistics agency said Tuesday.

Oct 30, 2012 (Dow Jones) -- Copper output in Chile, the world's largest copper producer, was up 4.3% year-on-year in September to 460,552 metric tons, the government statistics agency said Tuesday.

The National Statistics Institute, or INE, attributed the gain partly to an increase in output at those workplaces that started production in 2011.

For the first nine months of the year, Chile produced 3,981,806 tons of copper, an increase of 4% when compared with January-September 2011.

Last year, Chile produced 5.25 million tons of the industrial metal, which represented a decrease of 3.2% from what it mined in 2010.

As well as mining roughly a third of the world's copper, Chile also is one of the leading producers of molybdenum, iodine, lithium, gold and silver. The mining industry represents about 15% of the country's gross domestic product, according to the central bank.

Molybdenum output in September retreated 6.2% year-to-year to 2,659 tons, due to lower ore grades, INE reported.

Molybdenum, which is used to harden steel, and precious metals such as silver and gold are often found as byproducts at Chilean copper mines.

In January-September, molybdenum output fell 16.2% year-on-year to 23,365 tons. Last year, production of the metal rose 10.7% to 40,994 tons.

Gold production increased 14.3% year-on-year while silver production fell 25.2%, INE reported without providing output figures.

 

Chile copper output
Chile gold output

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