Name: Cerro Verde mine.
Location: The mine is located about 32 km south-west of Arequipa, Peru.
Holding and Controlling Company: Freeport-McMoRan (53.56%); SMM Cerro Verde Netherlands, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining Company (21%); and Compañia de Minas Buenaventura (19.58%). The remaining 5.86% is held by other shareholders whose shares are publicly traded on the Lima Stock Exchange.
Brief Description: Cerro Verde is an openpit copper and molybdenum mining complex.
Brief History: The Spanish mined the high-grade copper oxide ore from Cerro Verde and shipped it to Wales in the mid-1800s. Anaconda owned the property from 1916 to 1970, when the mine was acquired by the Peruvian government. The government mined Cerro Verde’s oxide ores and built one of the world’s first solvent extraction electrowinning (SX/EW) facilities in 1972. In 1994, Cyprus Amax acquired the operation and invested substantial capital in the property to upgrade and improve productivity.
Products: In addition to copper, the Cerro Verde mine produces molybdenum concentrate and silver.
Geology/Mineralisation: The Cerro Verde mine is a porphyry copper deposit that has oxide and secondary sulphide mineralisation, and primary sulphide mineralisation. The predominant oxide copper minerals are brochanite, chrysocolla, malachite and copper “pitch.” Chalcocite and covellite are the most important secondary copper sulphide minerals. Chalcopyrite and molybdenite are the dominant primary sulphides.
Reserves: Total recoverable proven and probable reserves as at December 31, 2017, were estimated at 3.67-billion tonnes grading 0.37% copper and 0.01% molybdenum.
Mining Method: Openpit.
Major Infrastructure and Equipment: The Cerro Verde mine includes a 360 000 t/d concentrator and a 200-million-pound-a-year SX/EW leaching facility. Leach copper production is derived from a 39 000 t/d crushed leach facility and a run-of-mine leach system.
Prospects: Construction activities associated with a large-scale expansion at Cerro Verde were completed in September 2015 and achieved capacity operating rates in the first quarter of 2016. The project expanded the concentrator facilities from 120 000 t/d to 360 000 t/d of ore. Cerro Verde's expanded operations benefit from its large-scale, long-lived reserves and cost efficiencies.
Contact Person: Director investor relations David Joint.
Contact Details:
Freeport-McMoRan
Tel +1 602 366 8100
Email fcx_communications@fmi.com or mr@fmi.com
Website http://fcx.com/