Data source: S&P Global Market Intelligence
21st March 2018
BHP Billiton Group‘s 57.50%-owned Escondida copper mine in Chile is expected to produce between 1.13 million and 1.23 million tonnes of copper this year, The Australian reported March 19.
The company intends to keep producing about 1.2 million tonnes of copper per year from the mine for the next 10 years.
Escondida will need to process about 40% more ore to produce the same amount it does now due to an anticipated drop of grade from 1% copper to 0.7% copper over the next 10 years.
The company said the ramp-up at the mine is almost complete, after investing about US$8 billion in the project over the past six years.
BHP in July 2016 decided to spend just under US$200 million to produce an extra 150,000 tonnes of copper from the Escondida operation.
Minera Escondida is also 30% owned by Rio Tinto, 8.25% by Mitsubishi Corp., 3% by JX Nippon Mining Metals Corp. and 1.25% by Mitsubishi Materials Corp.
