Copper production forecast to increase 9.7% in 2004

Chile's state copper commission Cochilco forecasts the country's production of the red metal will increase 9.7% to 5.38Mt in 2004 compared to last year, local press reported. The anticipated rise is mainly due to production increases of 199,000t by state copper company Codelco, 145,000t by the Escondida copper mine and 79,000t by the Collahuasi copper mine, according to business daily Estrategia. In 2005, Chile's copper output is expected to reach 5.56Mt, 3.5% more than forecast for 2004, but lower than the average annual growth rate of 9.2% registered between 1994 and 2003. Cochilco executive VP Patricio Cartagena highlighted the role of Chile's copper mining industry on the world stage, where the country's production represented 36% of total world output in 2003, followed by the US with 8.3% and Indonesia with 7.3%. Cartagena was presenting a yearbook of statistics on production of copper and other minerals in Chile from 1994-2003 which can be downloaded from Cochilco's website at www.cochilco.cl