Name: Antamina mine.
Location: The mine is located in the Huari province district of San Marcos, in the Ancash region of Peru.
Controlling Company: Compania Miñera Antamina (CMA), which comprises BHP Billiton (33.75%), Glencore (33.75%), Teck (22.5%) and Mitsubishi Corporation (10%).
Brief History: Antamina is an established mine that started operations in 2001.
Brief Description: Antamina is the eighth-largest copper mine in the world and is one of the lowest-cost copper operations globally. The low costs are facilitated by the high-grade reserves and resources, as well as the wholly owned mining infrastructure, including a concentrate pipeline and port facilities. It has an estimated mine life to 2029.
Products: Copper, zinc, molybdenum, silver and lead concentrates.
Geology/Mineralisation: The mineral deposit in Antamina is a skarn type of deposit containing copper/zinc, silver, molybdenum and bismuth, and is currently considered the largest of its kind in the world.
Reserves: Proven and probable sulphide reserves as at December 31, 2014, were estimated at 647-million tonnes, grading 0.94% copper, 0.98% zinc and 10.7 g/t silver.
Resources: Measured and indicated sulphide resources as at December 31, 2014, were 1.14-billion tonnes, grading 0.89% copper, 0.82% zinc and 10.6 g/t silver. Inferred sulphide resources were estimated at 1.28-billion tonnes, grading 0.84% copper, 0.66% zinc and 11.4 g/t silver.
Mining Method: Openpit, processing about 150 000 t/d using conventional flotation.
Major Infrastructure and Equipment: Antamina’s concentrator plant is a prime component of the productive process; its tailings dam is the tallest of its kind in the world, capable of storing 570-million metric tons of waste rock material, or 330- million cubic metres, over the duration of its useful life. Concentrates are pumped through a 302 km pipeline to the Huarmey port on the Pacific coastline for shipping through port facilities that are wholly owned and operated by CMA.
Prospects: Beyond the known reserves and resources, Antamina hosts additional potential openpit and bulk/ selective underground targets. There is also regional exploration potential over a large, prospective land package greater than 700 km2.
Contact Person: Corporate affairs director Stefan Axell.
Contact Details:
CMA,
tel 0+51 1 217 3000,
email comunicaciones@antamina.com, and
website http://www.antamina.com.