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Reuters reported that Chile's Escondida output fell just over 12% in 2009 to 1.103 million tonnes from 1.255 million tonnes in 2008. Escondida, majority owned by global diversified miner BHP Billiton said in a statement that it produced 775,731 tonnes of copper in concentrates and 327,245 tonnes of copper cathodes in 2009.

BHP has a 57.5 percent stake in Escondida, while Rio Tinto (RIO.L) owns 30 percent. JECO Corp, a consortium formed by Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T), owns 10 percent and JECO 2 Ltd owns 2.5 percent.

Rio, which published its mine-production report on Thursday, disclosed the drop ahead of BHP, the larger partner at Escondida. The production report came ahead of the big miners disclosing their financial results for the first half.

In the first six months of the year Rio’s share of copper production at Escondida, the Chilean mine that accounted for 7 per cent of global production last year, fell 23 per cent to 118,000 tonnes over the same period in 2010.

Chile, the world’s main copper producing country, said Monday output is likely to reach a record high this year as BHP Billiton (ASX, NYSE:BHP) ramps up supply and state-owned Codelco starts a new mine in the Atacama Desert. Based on the report published by the Chilean Copper Commission (Cochilco), the South American nation expects to generate 5.59 million tons of red metal this year, up 3% from 2012 levels. The country also forecasts world copper supply exceeding demand by 56,000 tons this year and 68,000 tons in 2014. BHP is increasing production at its Escondida mine, in Chile’s arid north, over 20%, while State’s owned Codelco is aiming to lift output to 1.7 million tons with activity starting at its Ministro Hales mine, reports Diario Financiero (in Spanish).

Mined copper production was up 36 per cent on the fourth quarter of 2008 with higher production at all operations, notably at Escondida and Grasberg. Refined copper production was up 15 per cent on the fourth quarter of 2008 following higher concentrate grades and a further improvement in performance at Kennecott Utah Copper. Mined gold production exceeded 1.1 million ounces in 2009, 141 per cent above 2008, attributable to higher grades at Kennecott Utah Copper and Grasberg. Production cutbacks were maintained in the Aluminium group in response to market conditions. Bauxite production was down one per cent, alumina down two per cent and aluminium down three per cent, compared with the fourth quarter of 2008. At the end of 2009 Rio Tinto Alcan’s annual run rate was nine per cent lower than at the start of the year.