Bloomberg reported that Anglo American Plc and Xstrata Plc will struggle to meet their annual production target at the Collahuasi copper mine after heavier than usual seasonal rains in northern Chile.

Mr John MacKenzie head of Anglo’s copper unit said that Collahuasi was disrupted for 18 to 20 days in the Q1. Seasonal flooding in northern Chile causes on average 2.5 days of stoppages at the mine.

He said that “In terms of the impact of the weather we are looking at what can be done in the remaining nine months to mitigate the impact of losses from the Q1. That is going to be a challenge.

Mr Diego Hernandez CEO of Codelco said last month that Global copper supply probably will fall short of demand again this year. Anglo and Xstrata will struggle to recover the Q1 production losses in the remainder of the year due to the rains and as ore quality declines.

Annual output at Collahuasi declined 10% last year to 453,409 tonnes because of adverse weather labor stoppages and lower ore grades. Options to make up lost production from the first quarter this year include accelerating waste removal to access higher grades earlier.

Source - Bloomberg.net

(www.steelguru.com)