Expansion planned for Codelco's Chuquicamata
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Codelco's Chuquicamata to receive $3.8bn in investment
June 12, 2012
Chilean copper producer Codelco expects its board of directors to approve $3.8 billion in investment by the second half of this year.
The company plans to use the money to transform the Chuquicamata project from an open pit mine into an underground operation.
“Codelco is looking towards the long-term in its business, and the quality of this project will make it profitable even in unfavourable market conditions,” ceo Thomas Keller said in a statement.
If approved, Chuquicamata is expected to begin operations at its underground operations by 2018.
After completion, extraction volumes will reach about 140,000 tonnes of ore per day at a peak.
Output will total about 340,000 tpy of fine copper and 18,000 tpy of molybdenum.
The company expects to operate Chuquicamata for at least another 50 years.
Codelco currently obtains 60% of its production from open pit mines and 40% from underground. The aim is to invert these figures over the next few years.
About 14km of underground tunnels have already been constructed at Chuquicamata, according to information published by Chilean newspaper La Tercera.
The Chilean company recently announced the construction of about 1,200km of tunnels in the next five years, including works in the mines of El Teniente and Chuquicamata.