Chile to produce less than 5.6m tonnes of copper in 2017 – Cochilco

State copper commission Cochilco forecast on Thursday that Chile would produce slightly less than 5.6-million tonnes of copper in 2017, down from a previous forecast of 5.79-million, due largely to a strike at BHP Billiton's Escondida mine. The walkoff at Escondida, where workers downed tools for 43 days in the first quarter, chopped 180 000 t off the commission's previous estimate in January, Cochilco said in its quarterly report.