Chile's copper mines continue to make money amid falling prices

Chile, the world's largest copper producer, surprised investors by publishing a report on its mining industry. According to the data, the average cash cost per pound of copper produced in the country in the second quarter of 2015 was $ 1.625 /lb, compared with an average cost of $ 1.655 /lb in the same period last year. Mining companies have benefited from lower fuel and energy costs over the period.

The index, which reflects production costs for companies across Chile, representing 91 percent of the country's total copper production, also shows that miners have benefited from lower fuel and energy costs, resulting in savings of 4.9 cents per pound. In addition, lower wages for employees and contractors helped cut costs by 4.6 cents per pound.

Encouraging numbers from local mining associations show that most copper producers in Chile are breaking even at current metal prices. However, the government notes that this report on production costs for the period up to June this year does not reflect the measures taken by companies in the past five months to cope with meteorological problems and weak industrial metal prices.

Copper in 2015 was hit by oversupply and weak data from the best consumers in China, which fell to their lowest levels in the past week. Copper is traded on the London Metal Exchange at $ 4,686 per tonne. The metal used in energy and construction previously touched $ 4,617 a tonne, the lowest level since December 18. There is also information that nine large copper smelters in China have agreed to cut their spot sales by as much as 200,000 tonnes in the first quarter of 2016.