Chile, the world's No. 1 copper producer, produced 507,694 tonnes of copper in October , a 6.5 percent increase from the year before, due to a recovery in a key deposit and production improvements at other mines, the government said on Friday.

Chile, which produces one-third of the world's copper, is struggling with dwindling ore grades in many of its aging deposits, although output has increased this year on the back of operating improvements.

"This production increase is explained both by the recovery of productive levels in an important mine that operated irregularly during 2012, as well as the higher output clocked this month in mines dedicated to copper extraction," the INE statistics agency said in its report.

The massive Collahuasimine mine has recovered after a disastrous 2012, with production soaring 43 percent to 297,340 tonnes in the first nine months of this year. Improved output at Escondida, the largest copper mine in the world, has also bolstered output.

Copper production in the January-to-October period increased 6.4 percent to roughly 4.7 million tonnes, the INE added. The government forecast that Chile will produce about 5.7 million tonnes of copper this year, an increase of almost 5 percent from last year and a historic high.

Copper output in October increased 3.8 percent from September.