{"id":1121460,"date":"2019-06-17T17:29:04","date_gmt":"2019-06-17T17:29:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=993912"},"modified":"2019-06-17T17:29:04","modified_gmt":"2019-06-17T17:29:04","slug":"first-quantum-ships-first-copper-concentrate-from-giant-cobre-panama-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1121460","title":{"rendered":"First Quantum ships first copper concentrate from giant Cobre Panama mine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals (TSX:FM)\u00a0has made the first shipment of\u00a0concentrate from its massive mining and processing complex in Panama, the largest copper operation coming to market over the next couple of years and the\u00a0biggest single private sector investment in the nation\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

The key milestone for Cobre Panama,\u00a0located about 120 km west of Panama City and 20 km from the Atlantic coast,\u00a0comes at a time when the market is in need of high concentrate volumes, due to recent supply disruptions, including a strike in the world\u2019s largest producer, Chile\u2019s Codelco.<\/p>\n

The project is on track to deliver between 140,000 and
\n175,000 tonnes in 2019. About 80% of total output will be generated in the
\nsecond half of the year, as the mill ramps up to its annual capacity of 72
\nmillion tonnes by the end of this year.<\/p>\n

After that, the Toronto-based company expects to increase copper output from 85 million tonnes per year to 100 million annual tonnes, beginning in 2023.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Cobre Panama processed its first ore in early February, fifty years after the deposit was discovered, but only six years since First Quantum gained control over it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

The expanded throughput involves the earlier development of
\nthe adjacent Colina pit, the addition of a ninth mill, an expanded mining
\nequipment fleet, additional conveyors, an in-pit crusher and other
\ninfrastructure to access the nearby pit.<\/p>\n

In 2017, First Quantum spent close to $1 billion<\/a> to advance construction
\nat Cobre Panama (cobre is Spanish for copper), investing a further $830 million
\nin 2018. This year, the company plans to allocate around $110 million to
\nkeep advancing the project until it reaches its full capacity of more than
\n375,000 annual tonnes of copper.<\/p>\n

Cobre Panama processed its first ore in early February,
\nfifty years after the deposit was discovered, but only six years since First
\nQuantum gained control over it through the acquisition of rival Canadian copper miner Inmet Mining<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Once the mine reaches full production, expected in 2021,
\nFirst Quantum\u2019s total production will surpass 900,000 tonnes a year,
\nplacing it among the world\u2019s top six copper producers.<\/p>\n

Panama will also reap the benefit from the operating
\nopen-pit mine, as it is expected to generate around $2 billion worth of annual
\nexports during its 34-years of life. That, according to Christie, is equivalent
\nto around 4% of the Central American nation\u2019s current GDP.<\/p>\n

First Quantum, which has operating mines in Australia,
\nZambia, Mauritania, Turkey, Spain and Finland, is also developing two other
\nprojects in Latin American \u2014 Haquira in Peru and Taca Taca in Argentina \u2013 but
\nthe miner hasn\u2019t decided which one it will develop first.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The key milestone for Cobre Panama comes at a time when the market is in need of high concentrate volumes, due to recent supply disruptions,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[539,369],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1121460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-base-metals","category-miningcom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1121460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1121460"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1121460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1121629,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1121460\/revisions\/1121629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1121460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1121460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1121460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}