By Fabian Cambero
VALPARAISO (Reuters) -Chilean copper miner Codelco will lower its 2025 production guidance after an accident at its flagship El Teniente mine knocked 33,000 metric tons off the facility's output, executives said on Wednesday.
El Teniente is now forecast to produce 316,000 tons this year, CEO Ruben Alvarado told a congressional hearing about the accident.
The decline represents a $340-million loss tied to the lost output, Alvarado said, slightly higher than the $300 million Codelco
forecast last week based on estimated losses of 20,000 to 30,000 tons.
The accident on July 31 killed six people near a new section of El Teniente's vast network of underground tunnels, Andesita, and forced Codelco to halt mining operations for several days.
Chairman Maximo Pacheco told Reuters the company would evaluate when it might be able to reopen Andesita only after an internal investigation concludes.
He added updated total copper production guidance will be announced in the coming days when the company releases its financial results for the first half of the year.
The company was due to post results on August 1 but postponed them due to the accident.
Pacheco added the company will maintain its long-term goal of producing 1.7 million tons of copper per year by 2030.
Codelco in March said it aimed for production between 1.37 million and 1.4 million metric tons for 2025, slightly above output from the year before.
(Reporting by Fabian Cambero and Paolo Laudani; Editing by Sarah Morland, Daina Beth Solomon, Rod Nickel)
