Antofagasta Q1 production falls as Chile Covid cases surge
Chilean miner Antofagasta said first quarter copper production fell 5.7% to 183,000 tonnes year on year, reflecting a surge in Covid-19 infections in the country last month.
The London-listed miner left its full-year guidance unchanged at 730-760,000 tonnes of copper at a net cash cost of $1.25 per pound and capital expenditure of $1.6bn. Net cash costs rose to $1.16 per pound in the first quarter from $1.10 a year earlier, it said.
"In March, Chile entered a second wave of Covid-19 infections as the number of cases in Chile accelerated, reaching record daily cases since the outbreak of the pandemic," the company said on Wednesday.
"In addition to the health measures we introduced last year we have further reduced our on-site workforce," it added.
"The copper market continues to perform strongly, and we expect this to continue as structural supply and demand dynamics support a tight physical market. In the meantime, we maintain our focus on cost control and disciplined capital allocation," Antofagasta said.
"Production, cost and capital expenditure guidance for the full year is unchanged, assuming no additional nationwide restrictions are imposed due the pandemic."
The company said it expected stronger production in the second half, adding that major maintenance works at its biggest mine, Los Pelambres, originally planned for the second quarter and which require a large number of additional workers on-site, was likely to be rescheduled to later in 2021.