Chilean copper mine Escondida, controlled and operated by diversified miner BHP Billiton Ltd (BHP), will complete repairs at its one of its mills this year, a company executive said Wednesday.

Escondida, the world's largest copper mine, declared force majeure for its copper concentrate deliveries in October 2008 after electrical problems shut down one of its SAG mills.

"We'll definitively repair the mill during the second half of the year and the mine will again be working at its nominal capacity," Diego Hernandez, chief executive of BHP's Base Metals Division, told reporters on the sidelines of business analysis and consultancy group CRU's 8th Annual World Copper Conference.

According to Escondida's initial estimates, some 15% of concentrate production at the mine was lost because of the problem at the Laguna Seca SAG mill, which crushes copper-containing ore into smaller pieces. Cathode production at the mine wasn't hurt.

In 2008, Escondida produced 1.26 million metric tons of copper, 15.4% lower from the 1.48 million tons it produced in 2007. The drop was due to falling ore grades and the problems at the SAG mill. During the year, it produced 997,491 tons of copper contained in concentrates and 257,528 tons of copper cathodes.

BHP Billiton has a 57.5% stake in the miner. Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto PLC (RTP) holds 30% of Escondida, while an additional 10% is held by a Japanese consortium led by Mitsubishi Corp. (8058.TO), and the remaining 2.5% is held by International Finance Corp. Under the terms of Rio Tinto's $19.5 billion agreement with the Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH), or Chinalco, the Chinese company will acquire a 15% stake in the mine.

-By Carolina Pica, Dow Jones Newswires; 56-2-820-4244; carolina.pica@dowjones.com