JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Gold major Goldcorp and diversified miner Teck Resources have completed the combination of their respective El Morro and Relincho projects, in Chile, into a 50:50 joint venture (JV), paving the way for a prefeasibility study (PFS) to start next year.
Goldcorp said in a statement on Tuesday that work on a PFS would start in the third quarter of 2016 and would be completed by the end of 2017.
The JV, which goes by the interim name of Project Corridor, was announced in August. The combination of the El Morro and Relincho has made Project Corridor one of the largest undeveloped copper/gold/molybdenum projects in the Americas and will significantly increase financial returns and reduce capital expenditure.
In a separate transaction, Goldcorp has consolidated ownership in the El Morro project by acquiring Canadian miner New Gold’s 30% interest in the project for $90-million in cash, along with a 4% gold stream on future gold output from the property. This previously announced transaction was also completed on Tuesday.