TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Diversified miner Xstrata has approved the development of its $4,2-billion Las Bambas project, the group announced on Tuesday, although construction is only expected to begin in the third quarter of 2011.

Xstrata said last month that it had given the go-ahead for an expansion at its Tintaya mine in Peru, which is about 150 km from Las Bambas, and the company expects to save on infrastructure and other costs by developing the two projects in tandem.

The group will now formally exercise an option to transfer the Las Bamabas mining titles from the Peruvian government agency Proinversión to Xstrata Copper.

Final government approvals of the environmental- and social-impact assessment and other permits are expected in the first half of 2011, based on the company's recent experience with the Tintaya expansion.

Las Bambas will have an initial production of 400 000 t/y of copper in concentrate, with “significant” gold, silver and molybdenum byproducts.

Ore will be mined at a rate of 51,1-million tons a year from three openpit mines (initially Ferrobamba, then the Chalcobamba and Sulfobamba pits) and processed in a 140 000-t/d sulphide grinding/flotation concentrator.

Las Bambas will be one of the two biggest greenfield copper projects to start production globally in the next decade, Xstrata CEO Mick Davis said in a statement.

The group expects the first ore will be processed in the second quarter of 2014, and production will ramp up to full capacity by the end of that year.

At Tintaya, Xstrata has approved $1,47-billion for the Antapaccay expansion, which will expand output at Tintaya by 60%, to 160 000 t/y and will expand the mine life by at least 20 years.

The company plans to pump concentrate from Las Bambas through a 215-km pipeline to a molybdenum and filter plant close to the Tintaya/Antapaccay operation, and then transport the concentrates by the same rail road to the port.

“The projects will also share the existing Tintaya road network, a connecting road along the pipeline corridor, an established logistics centre in Arequipa, the expanded existing Matarani Port facilities, and will benefit from shared management and administrative support functions to minimise overheads,” Xstrata said.

The company will also be able move work teams from the construction of Antapaccay to Las Bambas, as the projects progress through development stages.

Equipment and engineering has also been standardised across the projects, which will help lower costs and reduce delivery timetables.

“Since our entry into Peru in 2004, through the acquisition of the option to develop Las Bambas, and the subsequent acquisition of Tintaya in 2006, we have progressively been establishing a world-class mining division in Southern Peru that will produce well over 500 000 t of copper per year for the Xstrata Group by the end of 2014,” Xstrata copper CE Charlie Sartain said.

The Las Bambas project has been quickly transformed from an early stage exploration prospect with no defined mineral resources to a significant project with resources of over one-billion tons, he commented.

Xstrata also announced approval on Tuesday for the $1,1-billion Ulan West coal project in Australia.

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