About 3,200 workers in Chile stopped working on June 14, unable to negotiate with a government miner.
According to local mining consultant PLUSmining, the copper giant is losing about $ 2.5 million per day due to not meeting its daily production quota, which is estimated at 500 tons per day.
This means that Codelco's losses have already reached $ 17.5 million and about 3,500 tons of lost products.
The company, which reported an 18 percent decrease in copper production in the first quarter from a year earlier last month, is currently implementing a $ 5.6 billion project to convert a century-old Chuquicamata open-pit mine into an underground mine.
The last blast at the bottom of the open pit was carried out in November, although copper mining continues. The company said it plans to phase out operations.
The Chuquicamata renovation is part of a $ 39 billion 10-year plan to reorganize Codelco's core assets and is expected to extend the life of the legendary mine by at least 40 years. It will also allow the copper giant to maintain its rate of production despite declining ore grades and increasing operating costs.
After a full transition to underground mining, production at Chuqui, as the locals call it, is projected to be 320,000 tonnes of high quality copper and 15,000 tonnes of molybdenum.
