Chile’s mining company Minera Tres Valles (MTV) plans to construct and expand the Papomono Masivo underground copper mine.
The construction and expansion of the mine will be completed in Q4 2021, with the initial ore production beginning by the third quarter of 2021, the company said in a statement without disclosing volumes or investment in the project.
The copper mine project will entail expanding the company’s operations to sustain copper cathode production during the coming years, MTV noted without disclosing volume.
The miner also reported that it will reopen its Don Gabriel open-pit mine for a year, while simultaneously progressing the construction of the Papomono Masivo mine.
The Papomono and Don Gabriel mines are both located in the Manquehua gorge in the Chilean Chalinga Valley. The miner’s copper processing plant has a capacity to process 5,400mt of ore per day and is designed to produce up to 18,500mt of thin copper cathodes per year.
Chile’s copper output to fall
Chilean copper production is expected to drop by 1.2pc to 5.71mn mt in 2020, from 5.78mn mt in 2019, according to the Chilean Copper Commission (Cochilco). The country’s copper prices could end 2020 at $2.62/lb, 23¢/lb lower than the guidance announced in January, due to the uncertainties in the market produced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Copper prices reached $3.05/lb on Friday, August 28, up by 1.90pc compared the prior day, according to Cochilco data.