Chile’s State-run copper company Codelco registered its best production of the year in October, chairman Maximo Pacheco said recently.
The world’s top copper miner has been struggling to lift output after hitting historic lows in the last two years.
Last week, the company reported its production through September had fallen 4.9% compared to the same period a year earlier.
Pacheco did not detail how much production amounted to in October, but said it outdid the same month last year.
“October was the best month in the year so far,” he said in a statement. “We were able to exceed our monthly production target and also that of the same month in 2023.”
Codelco is aiming for production this year of between 1.325-million and 1.352-million tons, below an initial estimate of as much as 1.390-million tons.
At the same time, Codelco is venturing for the first time into lithium production, beginning with an agreement to enter a partnership with the world’s no. 2 producer SQM in Chile’s Atacama salt flat.
Pacheco said the company needed to develop a plan to reduce the extraction of brine, where lithium is found, and inland waters, to ensure responsible production. He said Codelco would not use desalinated water transported to the area.