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REGIONAL NEWS - LATIN AMERICA Pueblo Viejo Achieves Commercial Production process plant equipment was committed and either in-country or in transit from global suppliers. The project is scheduled to begin commissioning at the end of 2014, with production ramp-up occurring during 2015. Xstrata Copper Chief Executive Charlie Sartain, said, "Las Bambas represents the next major stage in Xstrata Copper's Peruvian development plans, which will result in combined annual production levels in the country of around 700,000 mt of high-margin copper from 2015." Eco Oro's Angostura Project 'Mostly Outside' of New Park Barrick's Pueblo Viejo gold mine, shown here, is expected to produce up to 650,000 oz of gold for Barrick in 2013. (Photo courtesy Barrick Gold) Barrick Gold announced in mid-January that it has achieved commercial production at its 60%-owned Pueblo Viejo mine in the Dominican Republic. Goldcorp holds the remaining 40% interest in the jointventure project. The project poured its first gold in August 2012 (E&MJ;, September 2012, p. 8.) Pueblo Viejo is expected to ramp-up to its full capacity in the second half of 2013 and to produce between 500,000 oz and 650,000 oz of gold for Barrick and between 330,000 and 435,000 oz for Goldcorp during the year. Total production is expected to exceed 1 million oz/y during the first five full years of operations. Total cash costs are estimated at $300 to $350/oz. Pueblo Viejo was completed at a capital cost of $3.7 billion and created more than 11,000 direct jobs during the construction phase of the project. The operation is expected to support about 2,000 direct jobs plus nearly 10,000 indirect jobs over its more than 25-year mine life, with Dominicans accounting for nearly 90% of the full-time workforce. The project had 25.3 million oz of gold in proven and probable reserves as of yearend 2011. 14 E&MJ; • FEBRUARY 2013 Xstrata Sets Las Bambas Project Cost at $5.2B Xstrata Copper announced in late January that a definitive cost estimate had been completed for its Las Bambas copper project in southern Peru, putting the cost of the project at $5.2 billion. Las Bambas is currently in full construction mode and will produce 400,000 mt/y of copper in concentrates, plus significant gold, silver and molybdenum byproducts, for at least its first five years of operation beginning in 2015. The project will come in at "a very competitive capital intensity of $13,000/annual mt of copper, first-quartile cash costs, and a mine life of more than 20 years from at least three open-pit mines," the Xstrata Copper announcement stated. As of year-end 2012, more than 90% of the engineering works and 80% of procurement and contracts for Las Bambas had been completed. Almost 65% of the project's construction capital costs had been committed, including costs for process plant equipment, bulk materials handling equipment, mining fleet, EPC/CM services, and third-party engineering and site construction contracts. All major Eco Oro Minerals reported on January 17, 2013, that its Angostura underground gold-silver project is mostly outside the boundaries of Colombia's new Paramo de Santurbán regional wilderness park and that development of the project will not be impeded by the park. Eco Oro is a Canadian junior company headquartered in Vancouver and was formerly known as Greystar Resources. The Angostura deposit is its principal asset. The project covers a total area of 215 ha, of which 193 ha fall outside of the surface boundaries of the park. Approximately 3 million oz of the project's indicated gold equivalent resources and 2.3 million oz of its inferred gold equivalent resources are outside the park boundaries. The Angostura project is located in the department of Santander in northeastern Colombia near the Columbia-Venezuela border, about 400 km north-northeast of the national capital of Bogotá and 67 km northeast of Bucaramanga, the capital city of Santander. The property is located in mountainous, relatively rugged terrain at elevations ranging from 2,400 to 3,500 m above sea level. An updated preliminary economic assessment supported by an NI 43-101 compliant technical report dated March 23, 2012, indicated that the project has the potential to produce 222,000 to 303,000 gold equivalent oz/y for 10 years at a mining rate of 6,000 mt/d. Eco Oro is currently completing a prefeasibility study on Angostura to determine the optimal project configuration and production rate. www.e-mj.com