TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – TSX-listed project developer EMED Mining on Monday said the permitting process for its flagship Rio Tinto copper mine, in Spain’s region of Andalucia, was intensifying after the 30-day public comment period on the refined environmental plan for the project started on Saturday.
The company said Spanish authorities had in recent times publicly affirmed the feasibility of issuing the outstanding two permits by the end of the year, which would trigger site preparations. These comprised the environmental plan and administrative standing permits.
"We are pleased with the increased pace of the permitting process at Rio Tinto Project as it reaches final stages for allowing the project's restart, initially with the Cerro Colorado openpit for copper and silver,” EMED MD Harry Anagnostaras-Adams said.
In July, the authorities received a favourable viability report from the government's independent technical expert Cedex, for the refinements to the tailings management facility. The 30-day public viewing of the associated environmental plan was approved in August, and started on Saturday.
"This intensifying permitting progress follows our successful consolidation of the ownership of all the project assets in late 2012, the installation of new product offtake arrangements and, especially, our re-engineering of the operating plans and other modernising improvements, including tailings and water treatment."
EMED’s project, which gave birth to mining giant Rio Tinto, is located in the Iberian pyrite belt, 65 km north-west of Seville, Spain. The openpit mine and processing facility had been on care and maintenance since mining ceased in 2000, owing to low copper prices of less than $1/lb at the time.
EMED was granted an option to acquire the operation in May 2007, and it was subsequently acquired in October 2008.
Also located just 20 km from Seville, base-metals miner Inmet Mining has for the last three years been operating the Las Cruces copper mine, host to some of the mining industry’s highest grades, which has been a huge boon to Inmet.
The Rio Tinto project was also located about 75 km from Freeport McMoRan’s Atlantic copper smelter and a major seaport.
A National Instrument 43-101-compliant technical report completed by Behre Dolbear in November 2010, had placed a base-case net present value of $654-million on the project, using a price of $3.50/lb copper.
The project had total expected cash costs of about $1.57/lb, including all operating, capital and acquisition expenses.
The Rio Tinto mine currently had proven and probable ore reserves totalling 123-million tonnes at 0.49% copper for about 610 000 t of contained copper, at a cutoff grade of 0.2% and measured and indicated mineral resources of 203.1-million tonnes at 0.46% copper, for about 930 000 t of contained copper at a cutoff grade of 0.2%.
The project has ample opportunity to extend the current expected 14-year mine life by converting more resources to reserves, and had potential for higher grades once operations started targeting underground reserves later in the mine plan.