Chile says rains have hurt productivity at Codelco copper mines

Intense rains at the start of this month in Chile, the world’s top copper miner, likely hurt productivity at State-owned miner Codelco’s Chuquicamata and Radomiro Tomic mines, the country’s Mining Minister said Tuesday.

Chile’s mining industry has lost about $300-million due to the unusually strong rains that destroyed infrastructure and forced some mining operations to be suspended, according to preliminary government figures.