Chile's Codelco, the world's largest producer of copper, has delayed the shipment of around 10,000 mt of cathode to customers in Asia as it deals with teething problems at its new Ministro Hales mine, company sources told Platts.

The Ministro Hales Division treats concentrates from the open pit mine at an onsite roaster in an effort to reduce arsenic levels before it can be safely smelted and refined at the nearby Chuquicamata copper works to produce copper cathode.

However, the roaster, the first of its kind in Chile, is not yet operating at design capacity, obliging the state-owned miner to export output as concentrate and delay cathode deliveries until later in 2014.

Sources said the delayed shipment represents less than 1% of Codelco's forecast annual production of around 1.7 million mt.

The mine, which began commercial production in April, is expected to produce 163,000 mt/year of copper and 264 mt/year of silver, making the Chilean miner one of the world's 10 largest producers of the precious metal.

Source: Platts