Anglo American warns water shortage to hit 2022 copper output

Arid conditions will hit copper production at Anglo American's Los Bronces mine in central Chile during 2022 as it prepares to start up its Quellaveco mine in neighboring Peru, the mining company has reported.

The company plans to produce 680,000–760,000 mt of copper next year of which 120,000-160,000 mt will come from Quellaveco which is about to enter production, it said in a Jan. 27 statement.

"We are on track and within budget, we mined our first ore in October 2021, and we are expecting our first production of copper concentrate in the middle of this year," said CEO Mark Cutifani.

The $5.3 billion project is expected to produce an average of 300,000 mt/year of copper during tis its first 10 years.

However, output from its operations in Chile will fall from 647,000 mt in 2021 to an estimated 560,000-600,000 mt in 2022 as it tackles "severe drought conditions."

"While production impacts during 2021 have been mitigated by the successful implementation of water management initiatives, record low levels of precipitation during the year have reduced water availability for Los Bronces in the first half of 2022 and have been factored into production guidance," the company said.

Production in the fourth quarter of 2021 fell 4% compared to a year earlier as lower ore grades were offset by strong throughput at the giant Collahuasi mine.

At Los Bronces, production fell 11% to 84,900 mt, while production at Collahuasi rose 11% to 66,000 mt (based on Anglo American's 44% stake in the joint venture). Production at El Soldado slipped 23% to 9,800 mt as ore grades fell by around a quarter.