Mining production rose 6.2 percent last month compared with the same month of 2008, the state-run National Statistics Institute, or INE, reported on Wednesday.

That result means that Chile’s cumulative mining output for the January-November period was unchanged relative to the first 11 months of 2008, the report said.

November’s performance was buoyed by increases in the output of copper, molybdenum, gold and iron ore, although the increases were offset somewhat by declining production of silver, zinc, lead and manganese.

In November, the metallic index grew 7.8 percent compared to the same month of 2008 due a 7.3 percent increase in the copper index and a 0.4 percent rise in the other-metallic index.

But the non-metallic index plunged 15 percent due to a steep drop in the output of nitrate and lithium carbonate; between January and November, this indicator fell 6.2 percent year-on-year.

The production of copper, Chile’s main export product, totaled 477,266 tons in November, up 8.2 percent from the same month of 2008.

Output of copper cathodes and concentrates rose 3.2 percent to 233,869 tons.

Meanwhile, molybdenum production in November came in at 3,051 tons, a year-on-year increase of 19.7 percent, while gold production rose 4.6 percent to 3,416 kilos (7,524 pounds) and iron ore production climbed 2.1 percent to 788,769 tons. (Latin American Herald Tribune)