Mind Map Description
Interactive Mind Map based on Las Bambas Mining Project website. Source:
LasBambas.com.
PERUVIAN GOVERNMENT AND XSTRATA COPPER
SIGN LAS BAMBAS MINING PROJECT TRANSFER CONTRACT
Lima, 2 September 2010, Press Release, source:
Xstrata.com.
The Government transferred mining titles for the Las Bambas mining project to
Xstrata Copper in a contract-signing ceremony held on 2 September at the
Peruvian Government Palace, attended by the President of the Republic, the
minister of Energy and Mines, the president of the Apurímac region, the
executive director of ProInversión, provincial and district mayors,
representatives of the farming communities from the Las Bambas area of influence
and senior company officers.
Project development calls for an investment of US$4.2 billion. Construction is
scheduled to commence in the third quarter of 2011, subject to regulatory
approvals. Las Bambas will be a world-class copper mine with initial production
of 400,000 tonnes per annum of copper in concentrate. First ore is expected to
be processed in the second quarter of 2014 with ramp up and full production
reached by the end of that year. A substantial resource base provides a mine
life of at least 18 years with significant further brownfield potential in the
highly prospective Las Bambas Mineral District.
Ore will be mined at a rate of 51.1 million tonnes per annum from three open pit
mines (initially Ferrobamba, then Chalcobamba and Sulfobamba pits) and processed
in a 140,000 tonne per day sulphide grinding/flotation concentrator.
Las Bambas will generate an average of approximately 3,600 direct jobs during
construction and 1,350 permanent jobs once in operation.
Xstrata Copper Southern Peru Division Chief Operating Officer José Marún said :
“Development of the Las Bambas project will provide significant value not only
for Xstrata Copper but also for surrounding communities through direct and
indirect employment and training opportunities, local business development,
infrastructure provision, payment of taxes and royalties, and investment in
community projects and partnerships; in addition, Las Bambas will benefit from
significant synergies with the recently approved development of the
Tintaya-Antapaccay expansion project.
“From our first involvement with the project, we have regarded our relationship
with the communities associated with Las Bambas as vitally important and it is
very pleasing to confirm that the dialogue we have established between the
community and the company has been recognised in the strong public support the
project enjoys."
Xstrata Copper Chief Executive Charlie Sartain said: “The Southern Peru division
has been growing progressively and we are now able to project a production of
over 500,000 tonnes of copper per year by the end of 2014. Our entry into Peru
took place in 2004, through the acquisition of the option to explore Las Bambas
by means of a bidding process conducted by the Peruvian government through
ProInversión, and then, we acquired Tintaya in 2006. Our Las Bambas and
Tintaya-Antapaccay projects are already materialising together with expansion
projects of our other assets in Peru, representing significant growth for the
Xstrata Group.
“Our dedication to the Las Bambas project over the past six years has allowed us
to rapidly transform it from an early stage exploration prospect with no defined
Mineral Resources to a significant project with resources of over 1 billion
tonnes that will support a long-life mining operation. Moreover, in Xstrata
Copper we understand that it is necessary to work together with local
stakeholders, to ensure the project will provide sustainable benefits to the
communities and region as a whole; and this is what we have done over this time.
“Peru’s suitable environment for investments, based on legal and political
stability with clear and stable rules of the game, enabled us to make and
announce these investments. Beyond any doubt, the strengthening of democracy has
been a cornerstone in the foundations of the country’s development.”
Xstrata Copper contacts:
Domingo Drago
Telephone +511372 2233
Mobile +511 989259180
E-mail
ddrago@xstratacopper.com.pe
About Xstrata PLC
Xstrata is a global diversified mining group, listed on the London and Swiss
Stock Exchanges, with its headquarters in Zug, Switzerland. Xstrata’s businesses
maintain a meaningful position in seven major international commodity markets:
copper, coking coal, thermal coal, ferrochrome, nickel, vanadium and zinc, with
additional exposures to platinum group metals, gold, cobalt, lead and silver,
recycling facilities and a suite of global technology products, many of which
are industry leaders. The Group's operations and projects span 19 countries.
About Xstrata Copper
Xstrata Copper is the fourth largest global copper producer with attributable
mined production in 2009 of 907,000 tonnes of copper in cathodes and
concentrates. The company is also one of the world’s largest producers of
smelter and refined copper, including from third party materials. Headquartered
in Brisbane, Xstrata Copper is one of the commodity business units within the
major global diversified mining group Xstrata plc. Its mining and metallurgical
operations and development projects span eight countries: Argentina, Australia,
Canada, Chile, Peru, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and the USA. Its
operations and projects are administered through a regional divisional
management structure, which ensures that appropriate levels of critical decision
making are taken close to the related businesses. It also has a recycling
business (Xstrata Recycling) with plants in the United States and offices in
Canada and Asia.
About Xstrata Copper's Southern Peru
Division
In November 2007, Xstrata Copper announced the creation of the Southern Peru
Division, headquartered out of the city of Arequipa. The division is responsible
for the management of the Tintaya mining operation, the Las Bambas, Antapaccay
and Coroccohuayco development projects, regional exploration and the development
and implementation of the company’s growth strategy in southern Peru.
Tintaya-Antapaccay
Acquired in May 2006, the existing Tintaya
operation consists of a concentrator and SX/EW plant and has annual production
of approximately 100,000 tonnes per annum of copper in concentrates and
cathodes. In July 2010, Xstrata Copper announced the development of the
satellite Antapaccay deposit that will increase annual copper in concentrate
production from Tintaya by 60% to an average of 160,000 tonnes from mid 2012 and
transform the mine into a long life business with at least 20 years of
operations, based on currently known mineral resources.
Las Bambas Mining Project
In August 2004, Xstrata was awarded the
right to explore and the option to develop Las Bambas following a competitive
international bid process conducted by Peru’s investment promotion agency
ProInversión. The project sits at an elevation of 3,700 to 4,650 metres above
sea level and is located in the provinces of Cotabambas and Grau in the Region
of Apurímac, 75 kilometres southwest of the city of Cusco. The Las Bambas mining
project extends of 35,000 hectares and includes the Ferrobamba, Chalcobamba,
Sulfobamba and Charcas mining concessions.
The current Las Bambas Mineral Resource estimate is 1.13 billion tonnes of
copper mineralisation at a grade of 0.77% copper, using a 0.3% copper cut-off
grade, and includes important gold, silver and molybdenum by-product credits.
The Mineral Resource was completed in 2009 and includes the results of 329,000
metres of drilling.
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from
the earth, usually from an ore body, vein or (coal) seam. Materials recovered by
mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds,
limestone, oil shale, rock salt and potash. Any material that cannot be grown
through agricultural processes, or created artificially in a laboratory or
factory, is usually mined. Mining in a wider sense comprises extraction of any
non-renewable resource. Source:
Wikipedia, Mining.
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