Chile's global leadership in copper production and export market share is being put at risk by uncertainties over the reliability of the national power grid, which collapsed last weekend in the worst outage since the February 2010 earthquake and tsunami.

Previous power interruptions caused by the earthquake, tsunami and other natural disasters have put a strain on Chile's infrastructure, which suffered losses of more than $30 billion in the aftermath of the 8.8-magnitude temblor and tsunami in 2010.

During the weekend blackout, which lasted more than 2 hours, Chile's copper smelting came to a halt in several different locations. Copper producer Anglo American said operations at its Los Bronces mine were halted by the blackout and state-run Codelco said its Andina division was shut down.

Mining works in the far north of Chile weren't affected.

Details of damage to industrial production in other economic sectors weren't immediately available but were said to be substantial.

Official reports estimated more than 10 million people of Chile's population of 16 million were affected by the outages, which hit Saturday evening.

The power cuts plunged large areas across central Chile into darkness, causing losses to businesses, refrigerated storage and other industries dealing in perishable produce.

Large segments of Santiago's business and residential neighborhoods were badly hit by the interruption and it was several hours before electricity could be fully restored.

Deputy Interior Secretary Rodrigo Ubilla said the power cuts in Santiago trapped thousands in trains and subway cars. A supermarket in the capital was looted and there were reports of endemic looting and raids on shops and business establishments in Santiago and other urban centers across the country.

Police appeals for calm and orderly behavior were heeded only in some of the affected areas.

Energy Minister Rodrigo Alvarez indicated attempts to restore power weren't as successful as anticipated by the people. There was no immediate explanation of the cause. Alvarez blamed a computer failure after early findings.

Critics blame Chilean President Sebastian Pinera for not doing enough to upgrade the country's infrastructure including its power generation capacity. Pinera's political opponents and the media have been impatient with infrastructural shortfalls and have been reluctant to accept the government's view that it may be years before the damage caused by the 2010 earthquake is made good.

Pinera has seen his approval ratings slip on a number of other issues, including slow progress on educational reforms to make college and university education more accessible to the economically less privileged Chileans.

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