Santiago: The world’s biggest copper mine by output, Chile’s Escondida, announced on Friday profits of $1.086 billion for the first semester, just over a month after avoiding a strike by workers. Production increased by 45 per cent between January and June, thus recuperating lost revenue over the same period last year that was provoked by a 44-day strike. The mine’s president, Mauro Neves, described the results as “positive” and said owners BHP had paid the Chilean state $524 million in taxes. Production, boosted by a new plant, reached almost 650,000 tonnes for the period.
Following a $3.4-billion investment, Escondida also launched the biggest desalination plant in Latin America, capable of supplying 2,500 litres of water a second to the mine. A potentially crippling shutdown was averted on August 17 following weeks of negotiations with the signing of a new collective contract between the largest trade union representing 2,500 miners and the plant’s Anglo-Australian owners. Last year’s strike caused a 39-per cent drop in production over the first half of the year, costing the company $740 million. Even so, the mine earned $1.2 billion last year, an increase of 20 per cent. — AFP
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