(Bloomberg) — Codelco has retained its status as the world’s biggest copper producer by the slimmest of margins after reporting 2024 output that nudged past that of BHP Group.
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Codelco posted total full-year production of 1.44 million metric tons, which includes its share of copper from mines it doesn’t operate, according to a Friday presentation. That compares with BHP’s attributable production of 1.43 million tons, according to Bloomberg Intelligence estimates based on the Melbourne-based firm’s reported fiscal-year numbers. BHP’s own calculation was slightly lower.
Codelco posted a slight increase from the quarter-century low it registered in 2023, thanks in part to its purchase of a 10% stake in a giant mine operated by Teck Resources Ltd.
Chief Executive Officer Ruben Alvarado has shaken up management and is pushing to finish late and over-budget projects that are key to tapping richer areas of its aging mines after decades of underinvestment. The state firm expects its own mines to churn out between 1.37 and 1.4 million tons this year, up from 1.33 million last year.
BHP, which last year benefited from higher production at Escondida, the world’s largest copper mine, is also embarking on a $10.8 billion investment program to overhaul aging operations in Chile. BHP’s initiatives would see the company produce at an average annual rate of about 1.4 million tons next decade in Chile. Without the investments, that output would drop to about 900,000 tons.
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