TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Xstrata Copper is on track to start construction at its Las Bambas project, in Peru, in about a year's time, after receiving mining titles for the operation by the Peruvian government on Thursday.

President Alan Garcia, Xstrata Copper CEO Charlie Sartain and several other senior company executives, Peruvian officials and politicians attended a contract signing ceremony and the government palace, together with representatives of farming communities in the area where the project is located.

Construction at Las Bambas is on schedule to start in the third quarter of 2011, assuming regulatory approvals are received, with first production from the $4,2-billion mine expected in 2014.

The operation is expected to produce an initial 400 000 t/y of copper in concentrate. It will employ 3 600 people during construction, and will generate an average of about 1 350 permanent jobs once production starts.

Xstrata aims to produce more than 500 000 t/y of copper by the end of 2014  from its Southern Peru operations, Sartain said.

“Peru’s suitable environment for investments, based on legal and political stability with clear and stable rules of the game, enabled us to make and announce these investments,” he said.

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