Chile Copper Mines Suffer Small Impact from Heavy Rains

SHANGHAI, Apr. 19 (SMM) – Torrential rains hit the central part of Chile over the weekend, and Codelco, the world's top copper producer, has suspended production at its century-old underground El Teniente mine. 

El Teniente mine, with annual capacity of 420,000 tonnes, remain closed, and is expected to resume production this Sunday, Codelco said. 

The underground mine loses about 1,500 tonnes of copper output for each day for the suspension, and production loss will reach around 10,000 tonnes till this Sunday, according to Codelco. 

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The loss, however, is not expected to affect market supply, and the mine will likely step up output after production resumption to offset the loss, SMM expects.

Global miner Anglo American Plc also halted mining activities at its flagship Los Bronces copper mine for security reasons on Apr. 17, but the mine restarted production on Monday.

Most of copper mines in Chile are located in northeast part of the country, and heavy rains in the central part have played limited impact on production so far. 

According to data from Chilean government, the country produced 5.79 million tonnes of copper in 2015, and output was 449,000 tonnes in February 2016. 

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