BHP Escondida Remains the World’s Largest Copper Mine

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Based on the latest ranking by Statista, BHP’s Escondida copper mine in Chile continues to be the world’s largest copper mine, as of 2018. Chile emerged as the topmost copper producer in the world, accounting for more than 25% of the nearly 21 million tonnes of worldwide copper production in the previous year.

The Escondida mine produced nearly 1.2 million tonnes of copper in 2018, boosting the production by almost 34% when compared with the prior year. In second place was Collahuasi mine in Chile, jointly owned by Anglo-American, Glencore and Mitsui. The production at the mine totaled 559,000 tonnes in 2018, surging higher by almost 7% over the year. Also, it surpassed Grasberg mine to become the world’s second largest producing mine. The Grasberg mine in Indonesia, operated by Freeport McMoRan, with an output of 557,000 tonnes was in third place. The mine output recorded a surge of over 23% when matched with the previous year, Statista observed.

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The other mines to feature in top 10 list along with their output (in tonnes) and year-on-year variance in production are: Cerro Verde, Peru (476,000, -1.2%), El Teniente, Chile (465,000, +0.2%), Morenci, USA (431,000, -7.1%), Ataamina, Peru (430,000, +5.7%), Buenavista, Mexico (414,000, -3.9%), KGHM Polska Miedz, Poland (385,000, +7.2%) and Las Bambas, Peru (385,000, -15.2%).