Cu output falls 5% in Feb. year-on-year

Chile, the world's largest copper producer, produced 365,494t of the red metal in February 2005, 5% less than in the same month the previous year, according to the country's statistics bureau INE. This is the first time in 12 straight months, or since January 2004, that Chile's copper production has fallen. February output fell at state copper company Codelco's operations, BHP Billiton's (NYSE: BHP) giant Escondida copper mine, Phelps Dodge's Candelaria and El Abra mines and Placer Dome's Zaldivar, said INE. The mines represented 60.8% of national production in February 2005. Of the total, 186,806t was electrolytically refined or produced using SX-EW technology, up 3.5% year-on-year, and 188,426t was in the form of concentrates, down 8.2%, the agency said. In the first two months of the year, Chile's output of the red metal rose 3.4% to 796,311t year-on-year. Of the January-February production, 389,679t was electrolytically refined or produced using SX-EW technology, up 5.1% year-on-year, and 427,234t was in the form of concentrates, an increase of 4.6%, the agency said. The rest was in other forms such as fire-refined or blister copper. State copper commission Cochilco has forecast the country will produce 5.55Mt of copper in 2005, up from 5.39Mt last year.