PERTH - Diversified miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have agreed to a joint $3.8-billion investment that may increase copper production at their Escondida operation, in Chile, within the next a decade.
The two miners on Tuesday announced your time and money in the Organic Growth One project, which would replace the Los Colorados concentrator with a brand new 152 000 t/d plant, and allows access to higher-grade ore located below the existing facilities.
Construction in the new plant would start this month, with commissioning expected inside the first half of 2015.
BHP, which holds a 57.5% stake inside the copper mine, would foot some $2.2-billion with the bill, and Rio, which owns 30%, would give a further $1.2-million to the kitty. The check of the project is held by Chilean companies.
The 2 main mining majors have likewise approved the Oxide Leach Area Project (OLAP), SBM which might involve the construction of a new leaching pad and a mineral handling system which will include several overland conveyors.
The new pad would maintain oxide leaching capacity at current levels, following your exhaustion of the existing heap leach in 2014. The OLAP would require a capital expenditure of some $721-million, which BHP would provide $414-million and Rio $216-million.
Commissioning of the OLAP is expected in the midst of 2014.
"We expect the conclusion of the current Escondida ore access and Laguna Seca debottlenecking projects, as well as a strong recovery in ore grades, to guide a substantial recovery in Escondida copper production to in excess of 1.3-million tons 12 months in the 2015 financial year," said BHP's base metals president, Peter Beavan.
BHP also announced a 17% boost in the mineral resource, plus a 25% increase in the ore reserves at Escondida, following successful brownfield exploration and accelerated in-fill development drilling programmes.Coal processing machine crusher
The reserve increase also reflected the approval with the Organic Growth One project, since many lower-grade sulphide ore was now likely to be treated throughout the flotation circuit having an associated improvement in process recoveries.
"Looking ahead, the achievements of our brownfield exploration programmes suggest you can find sufficient resources at Escondida to sustain production at current levels for over a century," said Beavan.
He noted which the Organic Growth One project was the initial of limestone crushing grinding processing a combination of potential projects that might "substantially" expand processing capacity at Escondida, and help in ensuring that the project remained the world's leading copper operation for several years to come.
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