At the end of July, Antofagasta (ANTO) revealed that although copper production had accelerated in the second quarter, overall output was down year on year. Ancillary gold production followed the same pattern, as the miner was hit by maintenance issues at its Los Pelambres and Esperanza operations. Nevertheless, it looks likely that the miner will achieve full-year guidance of 700,000 tonnes of copper.
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Investors will therefore be looking closely at cash costs at the half-year mark - particularly in light of a pay deal management struck with Chilean labour unions during the period. The overriding problem is that copper markets are now in surplus, with Chinese inventories rising sharply throughout July.
