Antofagasta lifts copper production

5th May 2010 11:01

Antofagasta ramps up copper production in the first quarter as it sought to profit from high prices for the red metal.The Chilean miner produced 117,000 tonnes during the three month period, compared with a quarterly average of 110,600 tonnes in 2009.Antofagasta hopes to produce 543,000 tonnes over the full year.It expects to have its Esparanza mine up and running during the fourth quarter of this year.About 10% of the copper in Chile, the world's biggest producer of the metal, is mined by Antofagasta.