Chile’s largest copper producer, Codelco has increased the copper ore processing capability at its El Teniente mine by using advanced analytics.
The miner indicated in a media statement on September 22 that by using operational data, it has now improved the efficiency of processing ore by 4mt/hr to 210mt. This increase multiplied by the 12 copper mills that the company operates at El Teniente would raise the daily copper processing capacity by 48mt, Codelco noted.
Codelco aims to produce 64,500mt of copper concentrate per day due to a good supply of high-grade ore and reliable equipment. The company’s copper production fell by 4.4pc to 133,000mt in July due to the pandemic related shutdowns.