Codelco hikes up copper production at Ministro Hales

SANTIAGO (Scrap Monster): The hike in the copper production of the company is reasoned by the company’s new mine, the Ministro Hales mine, an open pit mine, but the progressing decline in the price of copper is eating up all of the company’s profits.

The company, which is a Chilean state owned copper miner, in the period starting from January to September  produced1.23 million tonnes of copper, which is a hike of about 4 percent, compared to the production of copper in the previous year. The pre tax profit of the company, fell to 2.3 billion dollars, which fell by 14 percent, which according to the  company, was caused due to the sudden decline of the copper price, in the global market.

Other than the decline of the global value of copper metal, the company is also trying hard to maintain the lowering ore grades of the mine, in its decades old copper mine, and is also planning for investing 27 billion dollars on constructing a brand new copper project, and also to recreate the older mines.

The new mine owned by Codelco, the Ministro Hales, has been ramping up its production during the whole year of 2014, it has been symbolizing both hopes and challenges for the mines.