UNITED KINGDOM June 02 2016 1:23 PM     

NEW YORK (Scrap Register): Global  copper mine production is estimated to have increased by around 3% (100,000t) in  the first two months of 2016 compared with production in the same period of  2015, said the International Copper Study Group.

Concentrate production  increased by 4% while solvent extraction-lectrowinning (SX-EW) remained  essentially unchanged. The increase in world mine production was mainly due to a  54% rise in Peruvian output that is benefitting from new and expanded capacity  brought on stream in the last two years.

A recovery in production levels  in Indonesia and the United States and a ramp-up in production in Mongolia also  contributed to world growth. However overall growth was partially offset by a 6%  decline in production in Chile, the world’s biggest copper mine producer and a  13% decline in DRC where output i s constrained by temporary production cuts.  

On a regional basis, production rose by 6.5% in the Americas and 1.5% in  Asia but declined by 4% in Africa, 0.5% in Europe and 3% in Oceania. The average  world mine capacity utilization rate for the first two months of 2016 declined  to around 82% fr om 83% in the same period of 2015.