SANTIAGO (Reuters) -Chile’s Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, on Tuesday posted a pre-tax profit of $606.9 million in the nine months to September, slightly below the $612.2 million reported in the same period last year.
The state-owned miner said its own output totaled 937,000 metric tons, up 2.1% from the same period last year.
The production increase was achieved despite an accident on July 31 at its flagship El Teniente mine – Codelco’s most profitable operation – which forced a temporary halt to mining and smelting.
“This unfortunate accident impacted the production results achieved at the end of the second quarter of this year,” the company said in a statement.
CEO Ruben Alvarado said that Codelco expects to have more conclusive information about the accident by the end of the year.
(Reporting by Fabian Cambero and Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; Editing by Kylie Madry)
