Codelco has temporarily suspended the construction of three mining projects from March 25 to April 9 to safeguard its employees from COVID-19.
Codelco said in a statement that the closures would not affect the company’s production.
The suspensions include a project to construct the remaining part of the Chuquicamata Subterránea mining project. The mine, which is expected to have a life span of around 40 years will produce 389,000mt of copper this year, according to the Chilean copper miner.
Early construction work of the Rajo Inca mining project is also being suspended. The mine is expected to complement the production of the company’s División Salvador and increase it by 50pc to 90,000 mt per year.
The third suspended construction project is the assembly works of Traspaso Andina, consisting of the construction of a new crushing line to maintain División Andina’s current production capacity, of around 92,000 tons (83,460.9mt) of mineral per day that generates around 240,000 tons of fine copper per year.
Codelco’s production decreased by 6.8pc to 118,600mt in January, according to the latest data from the Chilean Copper Commission.