Fabian Cambero & Anthony Esposito

SANTIAGO – The pre-tax profit of Codelco the world’s biggest producer jumped from $2.1billion a previous year to $7.4billion in 2021. This was due to the high global price for this widely-used metal.

Copper prices have risen last year. Analysts see a new Supercycle for copper as the demand for electric cars rises.

Codelco is a company that transfers its profits to the government. In 2021, it reported that its mines produced 1.66 million tonnes more copper than in 2019. This was in line of its output one year prior.

Production from the stakes at Freeport’s El Abra was added and Anglo American (LON 🙂 Sur, copper production total rose to 1.728million tonnes

Octavio Alaraneda, Codelco chief executive, said that the cash cost of metal increased by 2.6% and reached $1.327 per pound.

“This was mostly due to external factors, higher input costs that toward the end of 2020 began to exert pressure on the industry’s operating expenses,” he stated.

Araneda indicated that Codelco is unlikely to be affected by the fallout of Russia’s invasion Ukraine, since these countries are not major buyers of its copper.

Alejandro Rivera, Chief Financial Officer, predicted that global copper prices would remain at current levels in 2018, barring any major conflict.

Araneda explained that while it is unlikely that overall production will be affected by the important maintenance work done at Codelco’s Chuquicamata Smelter, however, it will have an impact on cathode output.

He stated that the 2022 copper total production would be comparable to 2021 and 2020 outputs.