Why Chile’s costs matter for global copper development

Chile, which accounts for approximately 24% of global copper mine production, remains the world's leading copper producer. Its copper industry underpins a large share of national export revenues and global refined supply. Yet over the past two decades Chile has experienced a marked loss of cost competitiveness. In the early 2000s its large-scale operations clustered in the first and second quartiles of the global cost curve. By 2025 most sit in the third or even fourth quartile, and more than ten Chilean mines now operate above the 90th percentile.