Canadian diversified miner Teck Resources has secured a $2.5-billion financing facility to fund the development of the Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 (QB2) project, in Chile.
Compañia Minera Teck Quebrada Blanca (QBSA), which holds the QB2 project and will be the borrower under the financing, is indirectly owned 60% by Teck, 25% by Sumitomo Metal Mining (SMM), 5% by Sumitomo (SC), and 10% by Empresa Nacional de Mineria.
The $2.5-billion project finance loans will be provided directly, or guaranteed, by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Export Development Canada, Export-Import Bank of Korea, German Government for the Untied Loan Guarantee Program, KFW IPEX-Bank, Bank of Montreal, BNP Paribas, ING Bank, Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.
Teck, SMM, and SC will guarantee QBSA’s obligations under the 12-year facility on a several basis until project construction is complete.
The financing is anticipated to close before the end of the third quarter and first borrowing under the facility will only be required by late 2019.
The QB2 project has a 28-year mine life and includes 199-million tonnes of inferred resources within the life-of-mine (LoM) plan.
QB2 will produce 316 400 t/y of copper equivalent in the first five years of its 28-year mine life at an all-in sustaining cost of $1.38/lb and a C1 cash cost of $1.28/lb payable copper. The average LoM production is estimated to be 278 500 t/y of copper equivalent.