Copper Miners Scrambling to Adapt Amidst Water Shortages

The Wall Street Journal recently explored the challenges faced by copper mining companies amidst a 7-year drought in Chile, the world’s number one copper producer.
As quoted in the publication:

“We will have to stop operating if the tailings dam can’t operate,” Antofagasta’s chief of mining, Ivan Arriagada, said in an interview.
Companies are scrambling to adapt. Anglo-Australian miners BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto PLC are building a $3.4 billion desalination plant in Chile after warning that water shortfalls could crimp production at their jointly owned Escondida mine—the world’s largest, also in Atacama.
Still, some analysts say water-related supply disruptions, declining ore grades—the ratio of pure copper to waste products—and slowing growth of new projects will push copper production into a deficit, where demand outstrips supply by the end of the decade.

Click here for the full Wall Street Journal article.