Chile's Codelco says output up, pre-tax profit down in 2014

Output of Chile's Codelco, the world's top copper producer, increased by 8% in 2014 from the prior year, but its pre-tax profit fell, company chief Nelson Pizarro told local newspaper El Mercurio in a story published on Sunday. Output for state-owned Codelco in 2014 was 1.78-million tonnes. Pre-tax profit for 2014 was more than $3-billion, a decline of $760-million from the 2013 level.