Codelco confirms 42,100-tonne copper overstatement

Chile’s state-owned miner Codelco said on Nov. 5, 2026, that it overstated copper production by 42,100 tonnes in 2024 and 2025 and lowered its 2026 output forecast to slightly more than 1.2 million tonnes from 1.34 million.

Codelco is the world’s largest copper producer by output, and the admission means the company’s reported production growth of the past two years was smaller than shown. The company originally reported 2025 output up only 3,000 tonnes from 2024, and the correction wipes out far more than that.

Chairman Bernardo Fontaine made the announcement at an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting on Thursday, Reuters reported. Fontaine said production would run at about 1.3 million tonnes a year over the next four years, and the company has already signalled that its earlier goal of 1.7 million tonnes a year by the end of the decade is out of reach.

Reuters reported that in some cases copper was counted as finished output before processing was complete, and in others material was recorded as production when it did not qualify. Codelco ordered audits and dismissed nine people across three mines and its corporate offices, Reuters reported. Fontaine said investigations continue and executives could face further consequences.

“We are facing serious events that this board considers unacceptable,” Fontaine said, according to Mining.com.au. He also said, in a remark reported by Reuters, that “the state has not, in my personal opinion, properly fulfilled its role as owner of Codelco.”

The Northern Miner, citing Fontaine, reported a possible inventory adjustment of US$120 million to US$140 million (C$168 million to C$196 million), a preliminary figure while audits continue. It said KPMG is reviewing production records across all divisions for both years and EY is running a forensic investigation into possible duplicate entries. Reported figures for the breakdown by year and for duplicate inventory records differ between outlets, so they are not repeated here.

Fontaine also questioned the company’s spending record. The Northern Miner, citing the Chilean newspaper Emol, said about US$32 billion has been invested over the past eight years without reversing the production decline. Codelco chief executive Jorge Gómez said the company is updating its metallurgical balance standards to verify copper received, processed and produced at each stage, Mining.com.au reported.

The scandal comes as Codelco deals with a separate problem. The Northern Miner reported that the company stopped operations at its Andina concentrator after a tailings channel obstruction sent between one and five cubic metres of material into the Blanco River, and that Chile’s environmental regulator has opened an investigation. Tests of the Blanco and Aconcagua rivers showed no significant changes in pH, conductivity or temperature, the outlet reported, though the final environmental impact has not been established.

For Canadians, the story matters mainly through supply and prices. Chile is the world’s largest copper producer, so a lower and more credible output outlook from its biggest company feeds directly into a global market that Canada depends on; copper hit a record US$14,617 a tonne in September, as we reported, and all of Canada’s refined copper trade runs through one Montreal refinery. Canadian-headquartered miners with operations in Chile include Teck Resources and Lundin Mining.

The Chilean environmental regulator gave Codelco two business days to provide technical records on the Andina spill, and a consolidated report is due next week, The Northern Miner reported. The audits by KPMG and EY have no announced completion date.

Via Reuters, The Northern Miner and Mining.com.au.

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