Freeport-McMoRan’s South American operations continued to recover in H1 2021 with copper output from its two mines in Peru and Chile up by 9pc in H1 2021 to 228,610mt from 210,013mt in the same period last year.
Sales from the copper miner’s South America operations also grew by 5pc in the first six months of the year to 221,806mt from 211,374mt in H1 2020.
Production at Cerro Verde, Peru increased by 11pc in H1 2021 to 191,869mt compared to 172,818mt in the same prior-year timeframe. At Al Abra in Chile, however, output ticked down by 1pc to 36,740mt from 37,194mt in the same period.
Q2 sales and production
Freeport-McMoRan increased production from its South American operations by 12pc to 111,130mt in Q2 2021, compared to 98,883mt in April-June 2020. In this period, the company’s sales from these mines increased by 4pc to 103,326mt from 99,336mt.
During the second quarter, production at Cerro Verde increased by 16pc to 93,440mt from 80,739mt in Q2 2020 but fell by 2pc to 17,690mt from 18,143mt at El Abra during the same period under comparison.
Freeport’s consolidated copper output in the first half and second quarter of the year also increased as reported by the company on Jul 22