Copper Mining in Chile - Overview

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Copper Mining in Chile - Overview

Overview

Chile is the world’s largest copper producer, producing 5 390 thousand metric tons in 2010 as opposed to 5 520 in 2009. Chile has approximately 24% of the world’s known copper reserves.

Chile’s Codelco is the world’s top copper producer. Codelco plans to spend about $20 billion this decade to boost annual production to meet forecast rising global demand for copper. Codelco owns the Andina, Chuquicamata, El Abra, El Teniente, Gaby, Inca de Oro, Iruique, Ministro Hales, Radomiro Tomic, Salvador and San Antonio mines in Chile.

Xstrata owns the Altonorte custom copper smelting operation located near the port of Antofagasta in northern Chile. The smelter has the capacity to process 1,160,000 tonnes of copper concentrate per year.

Lomas Bayas, also owned by Xstrata, is located in the Atacama Desert. The Lomas Bayas open pit copper mine is one of the world’s lowest-grade copper operations with average grades of 0.27% soluble copper.

The giant Collahuasi open pit operation is the world's fourth largest copper mine and is located in the Tarapacá Region. The mine is operated by a joint venture company, Compañía Minera Dona Inés de Collahuasi SCM. The joint venture partners are Xstrata (44%), Anglo American (44%), and a group of Japanese companies headed by Mitsui & Co. Ltd (12%).

Minera Escondida, in which BHP Billiton holds a 57.5% share, is located in the Atacama Desert in the north of Chile. Escondida, the world’s largest copper producer, produces copper concentrate and copper cathodes.

BHP Billiton operates the Pampa Norte mine, located in Iquique city in northern Chile. Pampa Norte comprises the Spence and Cerro Colorado operations.

Spence, located in the Atacama Desert, is an open pit mine, with an associated leaching process, solvents extraction and electro-winning. Cerro Colorado produces high purity copper cathodes through leaching and electro-winning.

Antofagasta plc owns and operates three copper mines in Chile. Total production in 2010 was 521 100 ton of copper in cathode and concentrate. Antofagasta expects to increase production to more than 700 000 tons in 2011, following the commissioning of the new Esperanza mine. Esperanza is a copper-gold sulphide deposit located approximately five km south of the Group’s El Tesoro mine. Over its first 10 years of operations Esperanza is expected to produce on average approximately 190 000 tons of payable copper in concentrate. The first shipment of copper concentrate took place on 27 January 2011.

The El Tesoro deposit comprises two open-pit mines feeding a heap-leach operation and a run-of-mine leaching operation. Antofagasta also operates the Michilla mine, a sulphide and oxide deposit.

Antofagasta’s Los Pelambres mine is located in the Coquimbo region, 240 km north-east of Santiago.

Freeport-McMoran operates the El Abra mine in the Second Region and Candelaria/Ojos del Salado mines in the Third Region of Chile.

Teck Cominco operates the Quebrada Blanca and Carmen de Andacollo mines.

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