{"id":1133802,"date":"2019-08-21T05:43:35","date_gmt":"2019-08-21T10:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=999879"},"modified":"2019-08-21T05:43:35","modified_gmt":"2019-08-21T10:43:35","slug":"canadas-los-andes-copper-to-build-chiles-next-major-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1133802","title":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s Los Andes Copper to build \u201cChile\u2019s next major mine\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Canadian junior Los Andes Copper<br \/>\n(TSX-V: LA) is moving forward with plans to build a 110,000 tonne per day<br \/>\noperation, which it believes will be Chile\u2019s next major copper mine.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The company\u2019s Vizcachitas project \u2014<br \/>\na copper-molybdenum porphyry deposit 150 km northeast of Santiago \u2014 is one of<br \/>\nthe largest undeveloped deposits not held by a major mining company.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed open-pit mine and<br \/>\nconcentrator is located at a relatively low elevation of 2,000 metres above sea<br \/>\nlevel, and is just 65 km from a railway in San Felipe, with connections to the<br \/>\nPort of Ventanas and two smelters, located 140 km and 90 km from the deposit.<\/p>\n<p>It also sits in the same mineral<br \/>\nbelt as Antofagasta\u2019s Los Pelambres, Codelco\u2019s&nbsp;<br \/>\nAndina and El Teniente, as well as Anglo American\u2019s Los Bronces mines.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe advantageous size and location of the resources allow the development of the project with a potential lower capital investment in infrastructure than most of the presently considered potential new green-field developments,\u201d executive chairman, Fernando Porcile, told MINING.COM.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>The Vizcachitas project copper-molybdenum porphyry deposit sits in the same mineral belt as Antofagasta\u2019s Los Pelambres, Codelco\u2019s\u00a0 Andina and El Teniente, as well as Anglo American\u2019s Los Bronces mines.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>After the recent publication of a preliminary<br \/>\neconomic assessment (PEA) for the project, released in June, management is<br \/>\npreparing a prefeasibility study (PFS) that expects to submit by the end of<br \/>\n2020. If all goes well, the company expects the approval process to take about<br \/>\ntwo years. <\/p>\n<p>Based on the PEA, Vizcachitas would<br \/>\nbe in operations for 45 years and would require an initial investment of $1.87 billion.<\/p>\n<p>Chile\u2019s President Pi\u00f1era recently submitted to Congress a series of modifications to a&nbsp;bill introduced earlier this year. <\/p>\n<p>The proposed law&nbsp;would set stiffer fines and jail time for serious violations of the country\u2019s environmental rules. <\/p>\n<p>It would also make it a crime to mislead environmental inspectors or to obstruct the enforcement of environmental regulations in the world\u2019s top copper producing country.<\/p>\n<p>Referring to those developments, Porcile said that while<br \/>\nthe proposed modifications could eventually bring additional<br \/>\ndifficulties to the approval of projects, they reflect the need for companies to<br \/>\nincrease their commitment to environmental compliance. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe mining sector in Chile has been heavily regulated for a long time,\u201d<br \/>\nPorcile noted. \u201cThese changes are being particularly resented by industries<br \/>\nthat have not been properly supervised in the past and need to adopt more<br \/>\ndrastic cultural changes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The South American nation is highly dependent on mining and the<br \/>\ngovernment is conscious that more projects are needed, said Porcile, who<br \/>\nhas been in the mining business for more than 50 years.<\/p>\n<p>Copper output in Chile, the leading producing nation, is expected to exceed 6 million tonnes for the first time this year and continue to rise by about 30% over the next 10 years, according to the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/chiles-copper-production-to-exceed-6-million-tonnes-for-first-time-in-2019\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">country\u2019s state copper agency, Cochilco<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Output of the red metal, the agency<br \/>\nsays, could reach a record of 7.25 million tonnes as early as 2025, thanks<br \/>\nmainly to new projects and planned expansions to come online this decade, as<br \/>\nChilean miners confront falling ore grades at older mines.<\/p>\n<p>Production from existing, aging<br \/>\nmines, Cochilco notes, will decline by 19% to 4.46 million tonnes annually, but<br \/>\nthe drop will be offset by new ventures and mine expansions.<\/p>\n<p>The metal\u2019s price has dropped by about 10% since April, following a trend that many commodities have seen amid global economic instability, hunger for the mineral has weakened. <\/p>\n<p>Analysts, however, remain generally bullish about the red metal\u2019s future as China&#8217;s push to develop the largest electric vehicle (EV) industry in the world. This effort means Chile&#8217;s copper industry, worth $31.5 billion a year, may soon become stage a major comeback. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Company is advancing plans for Vizcachitas, a 110,000 tonne per day copper-molybdenum operation.<\/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":"","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":"","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-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-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-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-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-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-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2849,369,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133802"}],"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=1133802"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1133901,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133802\/revisions\/1133901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1133802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1133802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1133802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}