Table 6.4
Water Recirculation in Copper Mining
Unit: Liters per second · Cochilco, Anuario Cochilco 2025 · 2009 to 2025
| Series | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WATER REUSE IN THE CONCENTRATION PROCESS (1) (2) | |||||||||||||||||
| Reused Water | 14,696 | 18,052 | 20,601 | 21,750 | 20,386 | 21,408 | 39,986 | 38,514 | 37,969 | 46,555 | 43,881 | 36,821 | 28,646 | 31,767 | 33,444 | 30,457 | 32,174 |
| Water Reuse Rate | 0.5732 | 0.6286 | 0.677 | 0.6799 | 0.6776 | 0.7027 | 0.8131 | 0.8071 | 0.8131 | 0.8562 | 0.8616 | 0.8338 | 0.7718 | 0.8022 | 0.8169 | 0.782 | 0.8011 |
| WATER REUSE ACROSS ALL PROCESSES (3) | |||||||||||||||||
| Reused Water | n.d. | n.d. | 25,367 | 34,291 | 32,138 | 31,708 | 40,523 | 43,236 | 38,001 | 53,569 | 52,218 | 47,294 | 49,394 | 51,338 | 54,188 | 55,749 | 58,175 |
| Water Reuse Rate | n.d. | n.d. | 0.687 | 0.7401 | 0.73 | 0.7391 | 0.7304 | 0.7322 | 0.6992 | 0.7554 | 0.7684 | 0.732 | 0.7358 | 0.7398 | 0.7421 | 0.7103 | 0.7252 |
Notes of the table
- (1) Considera agua recirculada desde espesadores, agua recuperada desde piscinas de aguas claras y agua recuperada desde otros procesos. / Includes water recirculated from thickeners, water recovered from clear water ponds, and water recovered from other processes.
- (2) Desde 2015 en adelante, el volumen de agua reutilizada en el proceso de concentración corresponde a una estimación, derivada de la implementación de las buenas prácticas establecidas por la metodología del ICMM. / From 2015 onwards, the volume of water reused in the concentration process has been estimated in accordance with the good practices established by the ICMM methodology.
- (3) Cambio metodológico implementado a partir de la encuesta 2015. En este caso, se consideran las aguas recuperadas desde otros procesos y la recirculación entre subtareas, incluyendo el caudal de refinos y espesadores. / Methodological change implemented from the 2015 survey onwards. In this case, water recovered from other processes and water recirculated between process subtasks are included, as well as raffinate flow and thickener underflow.
Source stated in the table
Elaborado por la Comisión Chilena del Cobre en base a información de las empresas, recopilada mediante encuesta anual. / Prepared by the Chilean Copper Commission, based on information reported by mining companies through the annual survey.
Source: Chilean Copper Commission (Cochilco), Cochilco, Anuario Cochilco 2025 (XLSX), 2026. Read on Oct 6, 2026.
n.d.: no data · n.a.: not applicable · “< 1”: less than one unit.