Name and Location
Marianas iron tailings project, Atacama region, Chile.

Client
Condor Blanco Mines.

Project Description
The Marianas tailings deposit contains the fine portion of final residues from the Hochschild Mining copper processing plant (leaching and froth flotation), which used to operate in Copiapo city. Condor’s initial studies established a business strategy to process the tailings using simple magnetic separation technology. This processing strategy also incorporated a decision to reduce the capital investment by using available capacities for trucking and magnetic processing in the Atacama region, applying a contractor-based operation. This would enable Condor to operate on a profit-sharing basis using a dry iron magnetic plant and an existing truck fleet in the Marianas production cycle.

A recently completed scoping study on the Marianas project has concluded that the project has sound economics and is worthy of further evaluation and development spending.

The study examined Condor’s plans for on-site processing of the tailings into a saleable concentrate averaging 62% iron and transporting it by road to an iron-ore export facility at Caldera. The iron-ore concentrate will be placed on ships offshore by self-propelled barges, owned and operated by a third-party operator.

Value
Not stated.

Duration
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Planning is under way to support further environmental studies, full mining access rights and conceptual engineering.

The environmental study will require a conceptual study to provide the parameters to evaluate the impact on the social and environmental sector surrounding the project.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Condor Blanco Mines, tel +61 2 9225 4070, fax +61 2 9235 3889 or email info@condormines.com.