Chile’s Antofagasta on Wednesday reported record copper production of 770 000 t for 2019, which was at the top-end of its revised guidance and 6.2% higher than in 2018.

The 2019 performance came despite civil unrest parts of the country, which disrupted supplies to the miner’s flagship Los Pelambres mine during the final quarter of the year.

Antofagasta’s initial guidance for the year was to produce between 750 000 t and 790 000 t, but in November that was reduced to a range of 750 000 t to 770 000 t.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, production decreased by 5.8% in the December quarter, owing to disruptions to mine supplies at the Los Pelambres mine, lower grades at Centinela and a strike at Antucoya.

Gold production fell by 28% to 55 600 oz in the fourth quarter, owing to lower grades at Centinela, but full-year gold output was 34% higher at 282 300 oz and was above the miner’s guidance.

Antofagasta also produced 2 300 t of molybdenum in the quarter and 11 600 t in the full year. Both production figures were below that of the corresponding periods.

The mining company, which trades on the London exchange, reaffirmed a previously released guidance for 2020, which states that production would fall to between 725 000 t to 755 000 t of copper, 180 000 oz to 200 000 oz of gold and 12 500 t to 14 000 t of molybdenum.

The cash cost before and after by-product credits were guided at $1.70/lb and $1.30/lb, respectively.

"Following the civil unrest in Chile last year and the disruption of supplies at Los Pelambres, all of our mining operations have been operating in line with their respective plans, although the Transport division has had some interruptions due to occasional road blockages in the city of Antofagasta,” commented CEO Iván Arriagada.

Meanwhile, as the rate of expenditure on the Los Pelambres expansion would pick up this year, the group’s capital expenditure guidance increased from $1.2-billion guided for 2019, to $1.5-billion.

Antofagasta reported that, by the end of 2019, the expansion project had reached 31%. The $1.3-billion expansion will add an average of 60 000 t/y copper to the mine’s production over the first 15 years.

Shares in the copper miner traded nearly 4% lower in London on Wednesday morning at 914.2p each.