1108  SOUTHERN SOUTH AMERICA MINERALS YEARBOOK—1988ganese, molybdenum,
sodium and p0tassium nitrates, natural gas, crude oil, petroleum products,
silver, sodium sulfate, and zinc. Output of 5 of these minerals decreased
while production for the other 1 1 increased. The production of fine copper
increased 4.2% to 1 .47 million tons, a record high. Molybdenum, doré
metal, and sulfuric acid were produced as byproducts of copper. CODELCO-Chile
accounted for 74% of the country's total copper output and all of the output
of molybdenum. The small- and medium-size mining sector produced the remaining
26% of the copper. 
 
Trade 
 Mineral exports accounted for 58% of Chile's total exports, followed by
the industrial sector with 30% and the agricultural sector with 12% . The
latest figures from the Central Bank of Chile reveal that the nation's total
mineral export earnings were up 49% , to $4.1 billion, mainly due to a bullish
copper market. Copper exports were valued at $3.4 billion, up almost 61 °lo
accounting for 82% of the total minerals exported. Increases in export value
of other cornmodities were as follows: Nitrates and iodine, 23010; gold,
14.4°lo; iron ore and pellets, 8.7°lo; molybdenum, 8°lo;
silver,
3010; and other minerals, 12°lo. Of the copper exported, 59°lo
was
electrolytic copper in the form of wire bars and cathodes, l5°lo
was
fire-refined copper, 1 501o was blister copper, and the remaining 11 °lo
was copper contained in concentrates. Of the total copper exported, 1.1 million
tons was produced and shipped by CODELCOChile, and the remainder was sold
by private companies. Earnings by CODELCO-Chile from copper exports totaled
$2.9 billion, about $983 million more than in 1987. CODELCO-Chile's shipments
of molybdenum amounted to about 16,300 tons of contained molybdenum for a
value of about $148 million. Shipments by CODELCO-Chile of other byproducts
included doré metal and rhenium. 
Commodity Review 
 
 Metals.—Copper.—Chile continued as the leading producer
and
exporter of copper in the world, and contributed 82°lo of the value
of
mineral exports. Most of the increase in Chile's export revenue can be attributed
to a 61°lo rise in copper prices. The f.o.b. value of the copper
exports
was approximately $3.4 billion, a 61 % increase compared with that of 1987.
CODELCO-Chile, the largest copper producer in the world, produced 74°lo
of the total national output. The small- and medium-size mining sectors,
which produced 24°lo and 2°lo , respectively, accounted for
the rest
of the output. The output of 1.1 million tons of fine copper attained by
CODELCO-Chile was slightly larger than the level achieved in 1987. In addition,
CODELCO-Chile produced 63,802 tons of copper cathodes through custom electrolytic
refining. In all, 98.2 million tons of sulfide and oxide ores was processed
during the year. CODELCO began the year with a production target of 1 .2
million tons, a figure that was ultimately reduced to 1 . 1 million tons.
The reduction was due to a number of factors including rock bursts in one
of the operating levels of the El Teniente Mine in December 1987, rapidly
declining ore grades in the El Salvador Div. , a fire in the Andina Div.
, and the startup problems and a subsequent explosion in the new flash oven
at the Chuquicamata Div. 
 ENAMI, Chile's national mining company, produced 109,000 tons of copper,
a decrease of 4.5°lo. This decrease was caused by fewer deliveries
and
declining ore grades from Chile's small- and medium-size mining companies.
Minera Disputada de las Condes S.A. (a subsidiary of Exxon Minerals Chile
Inc.) increased its production to 125,100 tons of copper during its first
full year of production from its recently expanded El Soldado Mine. 
 Because of declining copper ore grades, Anglo-American Corp.'s Empressa
Minera de Mantos Blanco's pro- 
duction declined to 79,000 tons, and the Sociedad Minera Pudahuel S.A.'s
production declined to 13,000 tons. Chile's gold producers, principally Bond
International Gold's CompaflIa Minera El Indio, increased production to 30,100
tons from a heap-leaching process of lower grade ores. 
 There was considerable activity in exploration and evaluation of major investments
in large copper mines. The best known is the La Escondida copper project,
which was well advanced and expected to add 320,000 tons per year to Chile's
copper production. By 1993-94, when CODELCO-Chile's expansion projects come
on-stream, Chile's copper production is estimated to reach 2.8 million tons
per year. Phelps Dodge Corp. (Ojos del Salado Mine) and Exxon (Los Bronces
Mine) are studying expansion methods to increase production at their mines
to 90,000 tons each. Cerro Colorado, a property that was found to be marginal
as a flotation beneficiation project, has been revived by RIo Algom Ltd.
of Canada as a possible bacterial leach operation to produce 40,000 tons
per year of copper cathodes. Los Pelambres, owned by the LUKSIC Group, was
being evaluated for application of an electrowining process at a 40,000ton-per-year
level. Both of these leach projects have a competitive advantage over other
locations in the world because of the large surplus of sulfuric acid generated
in Chile by the pollution-control programs. The LUKSIC Group, owned by the
ChileanYugoslav LUKSIC Group through Dolberg Finance Corp., is the largest
of the domestic operations in Chile, with copper production of about 30,000
tons per year. The group has controlling interest in CIa. Minera Carolina
de Michilla, Anaconda South America Inc., and CIa. Minera Cerro Centinela
S.A. The latter, an operating company, holds controlling interest in CIa.
Mmera Cerro Negro, Santa Margarita de Astillas, Combarbalá, and
Illapel
Mines.