Chile's vaunted copper industry is nearing a tipping point as coronavirus explodes across the South American nation, mine workers and analysts say, laying bare the hidden costs of policies that have until now salvaged its output of the red metal.
) have doubled down with skeleton crews in the world’s largest copper producer, churning out more amid the pandemic than the year before.
The Antofagasta region, where Calama is located, accounts for more than half of Chile’s mine production, according to state copper agency statistics. Juan Carlos Guajardo, head of Santiago-based consultancy Plusmining, told Reuters the industry was coming “dangerously close to the edge.” The outbreak has exploded in Chile, with cases surpassing those in Italy and cresting 275,000 this week. The pandemic has spread northward to cities like Antofagasta and Calama dedicated to servicing the northern desert region’s sprawling mines.
Codelco CEO Octavio Araneda said in an interview with local daily El Mercurio on Thursday that any further restrictions on mining would be “catastrophic” for Chile. He rejected allegations the company had fumbled the virus response. In a letter to Health Minister Enrique Paris late on Tuesday obtained by Reuters, community and social groups in mining hub Calama warned of an “avalanche” of cases and demanded miners undergo a “quarantine of 14 days, halting programs, operations and production.”
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