Antamina regains top spot in Peru copper production

Peru’s Antamina mine has regained top spot in copper production after more than a year and a half of fluctuating between second and third place, and there is an expectation that it will end 2024 as the country’s main producer of the red metal.

The operating company – a partnership between BHP (33.75%), Glencore (33.75%), Teck Resources (22.5%) and Mitsubishi (10%) – lost top spot in December 2022, since when Phoenix-based Freeport McMoran-controlled Cerro Verde has led the ranking for most of the time.

Antamina, in northern Áncash region, produced 225,160t of copper in the first half of the year while Cerro Verde’s output was 222,225t. Antamina’s production was up 7.9% compared to 208,734t in the first half of last year, while Cerro Verde’s was down 6.4% from 237,373t, according to a new report released by the energy and mines ministry (Minem). Peru’s total copper production fell 11.7% to 213,578t in June compared to the same month last year and 2.1% in H1 to 1.29Mt.

Although several mining companies – including Anglo American, Antapaccay and Las Bambas – have indicated their production will rise due to better grades, output has been falling in recent months, leaving Minem's expectation of exceeding 3Mt in 2024 is in doubt.

Only three major mining companies in Peru have seen output rise this year: Antamina, Southern Copper and Anglo American. Production at Southern Copper – which operates the Toquepala and Cuajone mines – grew 17.6% to 210,302t, while that of Anglo American – which operates Quellaveco – rose 6.9% to 147,331t.

In the case of Cerro Verde, now in second place, company executives said at the beginning of the year that they expected a drop in production in the first half due to low grades but an improvement is expected in the second half given that processing rates in the concentrators have been rising.

As for other mining companies, Minem says June’s drop was partly explained by the lower performance of Chinese-controlled companies such as Chinalco (Aluminum Corp of China) and Las Bambas (MMG). In the case of the former, Chinalco registered a monthly drop of 60.6% in June compared to June 2023, while Las Bambas suffered a 13.3% decline.

In the six months, Chinalco produced 81,012t, according to Minem, compared with 104,397t a year earlier while Las Bambas produced 124,714t compared with 139,598t despite the fact that its new Chalcobamba pit is now contributing to the production of copper concentrates.