Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr
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REGIONAL NEWS - LATIN AMERICA Antapaccay Dispatches First Copper Concentrates of-mine leach pads. Copper cathodes are produced using the existing Lomas Bayas SX-EW plant. Anglo American Clears Final Hurdle for Minas-Rio Loading concentrate at Antapaccay. (Photo courtesy of Xstrata Copper) Xstrata Copper's new Antapaccay copper mine in southern Peru began production of commercial-grade copper concentrates at the beginning of November 2012 and delivered its first shipment to Matarani Port for delivery to customers worldwide later in the month. Plant commissioning was ongoing as Antapaccay progressively ramps up to its nameplate processing capacity of 70,000 mt/d in the first half of 2013. The mine will produce an average of 160,000 mt/y of copper in concentrate, plus gold and silver byproducts, in its initial years of production. Antapaccay operations include a new mine and state-of-the-art concentrator. Mine life is projected at more than 20 years. The project is located at an elevation of 4,100 m above sea level in the Yauri district of Espinar province in southern Peru's Cusco region, approximately 10 km from Xstrata Copper's Tintaya open-pit mine. Mining activities at Tintaya are winding down, and Antapaccay will benefit from Tintaya's existing administrative and logistics infrastructure and experienced workforce. The Antapaccay mine will employ a permanent workforce of around 1,400 people, with the majority of workers transferring from Tintaya as it closes, and will create further opportunities for local employment. 14 E&MJ; • JANUARY 2013 The Antapaccay deposit has recently been expanded by 30% to an estimated total mineral resource of more than 1 billion mt at a grade of 0.49% copper using a cutoff grade of 0.15% copper, including gold and silver byproducts. The mineral resource contains 5 million mt of copper metal. The Tintaya geological district also hosts the Coroccohuayco deposit, with a current mineral resource of 324 million mt at a grade of 0.93% copper, and a number of additional exploration targets. Xstrata Copper Chief Executive Charlie Sartain said, "I am delighted to announce that we commenced production at our major Antapaccay project on schedule and in line with the original budget of $1.5 billion." Construction at Lomas Bayas: On December 21, 2012, Xstrata Copper reported completion of construction and start of commissioning of the $300-million Lomas II project at its Lomas Bayas operations in northern Chile. The project will extend mine life at Lomas Bayas by 16 years, until at least 2028, at existing production levels of 75,000 mt/y of copper cathodes. The Lomas II project involved development of the Fortuna de Cobre open-pit, located 3 km from the operation's original mine and infrastructure, and construction of a new primary crusher, a new conveyor transport system, and new heap and run- Anglo American reported on December 21, 2012, that it had secured the removal of the third and final injunction that had been impeding construction activities at its Minas-Rio iron ore project in Brazil, allowing construction to proceed on the 90-km electricity transmission line that will provide power for the project. Two other injunctions were removed in September, enabling construction of the primary crusher and conveyor system and pre-stripping work to resume at the mine site and resolving land access issues for the route of the 525-km slurry pipeline that will deliver ore to the Port of Açu in Rio de Janeiro state. The Minas-Rio project is targeting production of 26.5 million mt/y of iron ore pellet feed. Construction progress has remained on schedule for elements of the project that were not affected by legal or land access constraints. Anglo American currently anticipates that first ore will be delivered to port during the second half of 2014, the target date having been pushed back from a previous estimate of the second half of 2013. In a mid-November 2012 project update, Anglo American reported that current indications are that capital expenditures for the Minas-Rio project are unlikely to be less than the $8-billion upper end of the range of analysts' expectations. The previous estimate for the project was $5.8 billion. Anglo American is carrying out a detailed cost review to assess the impact of already announced delays and the other disruptive challenges faced by the project, which include high cost inflation across the construction industry in Brazil. The review includes an independent external assessment commissioned by the Anglo American board. Anglo American will provide further detailed information in relation to MinasRio when the review has been completed and any remaining challenges affecting the project timetable have been resolved. (Continued on p. 27) www.e-mj.com