Chilean firm Codelco, one of the world’s biggest copper producers, extracted 1mn mt of copper from its Chuquicamata Subterránea mine between August 2019 to March 2020.
The mine currently produces about 20,000mt of copper ores daily, according to media reports.
Chuquicamata Subterránea, which is expected to produce 389,000mt of copper this year, has a 40-year life.
Codelco produced 386,600mt of copper in the first quarter of this year, increasing by 4.2pc from 370,900mt in Q1 2019, according to the latest data released by the Chilean Copper Commission (Cochilco).
Chile’s copper output is expected to reach 5.87mn this year, while production in 2021 is expected to rise by 0.7pc on an annual basis to 5.91mn, Cochilco has said.
Chile lowered its copper price guidance by 45¢/lb to $2.40/lb because the COVID-19 pandemic has proven injurious to the national copper industry.
Copper prices reached $2.37/lb on May 22, which decreased by 2.68pc from a day earlier, according to data from Cochilco.