Copper concentrate output from PPC’s Caserones mine in Chile delayed until May

Commercial production of copper and molybdenum concentrates from the Caserones copper mine in Chile has been delayed to May on construction snags and a strike.

Commercial production of copper and molybdenum concentrates from the Caserones copper mine in Chile has been delayed to May on construction snags and a strike.

The parent company of the mine’s joint owner, Japan’s top copper producer Pan Pacific Copper (PPC), had previously scheduled the start of commercial production for January this year.

“A contractors’ strike and a fault in a grinding machine affected the start of [copper] production,” a spokesman at PPC’s parent company, JX Nippon Mining & Metals, told Metal Bulletin on February 6.

“Molybdenum concentrate will be produced in parallel with copper concentrate,” he said, adding that “in line with that, production of molybdenum concentrate will be started in May 2014.”

Full production of 150,000 tpy of copper contained in copper concentrate will be reached in August, he added.

An ore processing test run through the concentrates production facility will start this month, he said.

Production of refined copper at Caserones by means of solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX-EW) started in March 2013, and is already at its full capacity of 30,000 tpy.

In October 2013, the initial capital expenditure for the Caserones project was increased to $4.2 billion from $3 billion

PPC is a joint enterprise owned by JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corp (66%) and Mitsui Mining & Smelting (34%). JX Holdings is the parent company for JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corp.

Caserones has a 28-year mine life and PPC has said that over the first ten years, the output of copper contained in copper concentrates from Caserones will be about 150,000 tpy and refined copper produced by the SX-EW process will be about 30,000 tpy.

Molybdenum output is expected to be about 3,000 tpy during the first ten years. 

Shivani Singh 
shivani.singh@metalbulletinasia.com
Twitter: @ShivaniSingh_MB 

What to read next
US export controls on recycled copper would have unintended consequences that could weaken the country’s domestic recycling and manufacturing ecosystems, the president of the Recycled Materials Association (ReMA) said.
The publication of Fastmarkets’ assessments for nickel 4x4 cathode, nickel briquette and nickel uncut cathode premiums in-whs Rotterdam was delayed on Tuesday July 16 because of a reporter error.
Fastmarkets has corrected its alumina index inferred prices, which were published incorrectly on Tuesday July 15.
The United States' copper recycling industry is ramping up pressure on policymakers to impose some form of export controls on high-purity copper scrap, arguing that current trade dynamics – particularly with China – are distorting prices, weakening domestic capacity and undermining national security goals.
Fastmarkets launched two new price assessments for Indonesia’s domestic trade in nickel ore on Tuesday July 15. The two price assessments are for domestic trades of Indonesian laterite ores with 1.6% and 1.2% nickel content. Indonesia now accounts for 60% of the global nickel supplies and while there is an official government reference price, known […]
US copper scrap market participants are shifting from COMEX to LME pricing in response to extreme price volatility and a new 50% copper import tariff. The change is influencing discount formulas, export strategies and long-term trading dynamics across the sector.