The Chilean company, Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, has already lost 17.5 mln dollars due to the ongoing strike at its copper mine, Chuquicamata, the largest enterprise when labor comes in the second week.
About 3,200 workers in Chile shot down their tools on June 14, failing to negotiate with a state miner.
According to PLUSmining, a local mining consultant, the copper giant loses about $ 2.5 million per day due to unfulfilled production, which is estimated at 500 tons per day.
This means that the impact on Codelco's revenue is already $ 17.5 million, while production lost is about 3,500 tons.
The company, which last month reported an 18% decline in annual copper production in the first quarter, is at the center of a $ 5.6 billion project to turn centenary Chuquicamata, its second largest copper company in size, into an underground mine.
The last explosion at the bottom of the quarry was conducted in November, although copper mining continues. The company said it plans to gradually reduce activities
The Chuquicamata switch is part of a 10-year overhaul of the main assets of Codelco, which is expected to extend the life of the legendary mine by at least 40 years. It will also allow the copper giant to maintain production rates, despite a decrease in the ore content and an increase in the cost of its operations.
The annual production at Chuqui, as locals call it, after it has completely switched to underground mining, is projected to be 320,000 tons of fine copper and 15,000 tons of molybdenum.
Codelco, which transfers all of its profits to the state, owns huge reserves of copper, which account for 10% of the world's known proven and probable reserves and about 11% of world annual copper production with 1.8 million metric tons of mining.
Bad trend
According to the International Copper Study Group (ICSG), this year the main copper producing countries are showing a decline in production.
World production fell by 2.4% in February 2019 compared with the same month last year, when the world produced 1,515 thousand tons (19,749 thousand tons per year) of copper contained.
Chile led to a decline in productivity of 7.1% per year, while Peru, the second largest global producer, reduced production by 5.1% per year.
