Loss of Chile's open-pit mine for the first time

It was recently learned that the open-pit copper mine Chuquicamata, which is owned by the Chilean National Copper Company, has been mined for 103 years, and suffered losses for the first time last year.

According to a report submitted by the company to the Securities and Insurance Regulatory Agency (SVS), last year the CHUQUICAMATA mine suffered a loss of 233 million U.S. dollars, while in 2011 it earned 247 million U.S. dollars. The reason for the square root of losses last year was due to the decline in output resulting in lower production and lower income. In addition, last year the company dismissed 2,150 workers and paid an additional 200 million U.S. dollars, and the workers collectively negotiated a year-end bonus of 300 million U.S. dollars. Copper trade unions believe that losses are due to management and planning reasons.

In 2012, the output of the CHUQUICAMATA mine was 355,000 tons, a decrease of 87,000 tons from the previous year, which was lower than that of RADOMIROTOMIC and ELTENIENTE in the mines owned by the National Copper Corporation. In 2012, the two mines SALVADOR and VENTANAS owned by the National Copper Company suffered losses of US$98 million and US$51 million, respectively.