TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Vancouver-based Goldcorp believes it could receive construction permits for the El Morro copper/gold project, in Chile, as early as this year, and will be working hard to have development plans ready before then, CEO Chuck Jeannes said on Tuesday.

Goldcorp closed its acquisition of 70% of the project from Xstrata last month, with the help of New Gold Inc, which owns the other 30% and had a right of first refusal on Xstrata's stake.

However, the legality of the deal is being challenged by larger rival Barrick Gold, which had earlier agreed to buy Xstrata's share of El Morro.

In a presentation at a mining conference in Florida, hosted by BMO Capital Markets, Jeannes did not comment on the Barrick case, but Goldcorp said in January, when Barrick first filed the statement of claim, that it was confident the deal would stand up.

The company is working on developing a plan and budget for the rest of the year at El Morro and will be ready to release more details soon, he said.

The construction permits were already applied for by Xstrata, and the approvals could be received before the end of 2010.

“So we will be getting very busy to be prepared for that when those authorisations to proceed are available,” Jeannes said.

The El Morro project contains 6,7-million ounces of gold and 5,7-billion pounds of copper reserves, plus 2,2-million ounces of gold and and one-billion pounds of copper resources in the measured and indicated categories.

Under the agreement with New Gold, Goldcorp committed to start construction on the project within 60 days of receiving of all the necessary approvals and permits.

NOT AFRAID OF COMPETITION

Both the El Morro transaction and Goldcorp's other recent acquisition were in competition with other buyers, as the company raised its offer twice in a friendly bid for Canadian junior Canplats, to beat out rival bids from a joint venture owned by Newmont Mining and London-listed Fresnillo.

Canplats' main asset was the Camino Rojo project, near Goldcorp's large new Penasquito mine in Mexico.

Jeannes said he continues to assess acquisition targets around the world, but that an asset would need to be “compelling” to lure Goldcorp out of the Americas, where all its operations are currently located.

The company is looking for large, low-cost, long-life assets, in good jurisdictions, with good growth opportunities over time.

“And those will draw competition,” Jeannes commented.

“We are not afraid of that. We look at the value that we are willing to pay, and aggressively go to get it at that value.”

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