Chile's Chuquicamata underground copper mine to start this year – Codelco
SANTIAGO – Chile's Chuquicamata underground copper mine is due to start operations in the middle of this year, the State copper miner Codelco's chairman said on Wednesday.
Chairman Juan Benavides said the start-up will be "a fundamental step and milestone in this structural overhaul" of Codelco.
Codelco, which produces nearly 10% of the world’s copper, announced a $5.550-billion investment to convert Chuquicamata, its second-largest resource, from an opencast mine into an underground facility last year.
The plans for Chuquicamata are part of a 10-year, $39-billion overhaul of the state miner's key operations as it seeks to maintain production despite rapidly falling ore grades at its deposits.
Finance Minister Felipe Larrain confirmed in the same news conference on Wednesday that the government would pay out the remaining $400-million of $1-billion capitalisation for Codelco's overhaul that was announced last June.
"This is a show of the confidence we have in the company and in the importance of these resources for Codelco to be able to complete its structural reform program," Larrain said.
Codelco's Chuquicamata and nearby Radomiro Tomic mines produced 653 000 tonnes of the company's total 1.8-million tonnes of output last year, a third of Chile's total production.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation