Vancouver — Some four months ahead of schedule and slightly under budget, partners BHP Billiton (BHP-N), Noranda (NRD-T), Teck Cominco (TEK-T) and Japanese-based Mitsubishi have achieved commercial production at the Antamina copper-zinc project in northern Peru.
Commercial production — defined as producing 80% of the project’s designed throughput rate over a period of 90 days — was hit on Oct. 1. Commissioning and start-up began in late May and by the beginning of October, the mill had treated more than 6.7 million tonnes of ore, generating over 314,000 tonnes of copper concentrates, with more than 210,000 tonnes already shipped.
Despite the early ramp-up, low copper and zinc prices forced the partners to cut its sales forecast for next year. Antamina is now slated to generate US$700 million in sales revenue in its first year of operation, down from the projected US$1 billion.
Base metals prices continue to trade near historic lows on concerns that the terrorist attacks on New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon could spur a recession. The prices of copper and zinc recently hit US65 per lb. and US38 per lb., respectively. Antamina’s original estimates were based on US$2,100 copper and US$1,200 zinc.
The mine is expected to be one of the largest and lowest-cost copper-zinc producers in the world, with average annual production forecast at 300,000 tonnes copper and 285,000 tonnes zinc in the first 10 years of a projected 22-year mine life.
The Antamina mill is designed to process 70,000 tonnes of ore daily.
BHP Billiton and Noranda each own 33.75% of Antamina, Teck Cominco holds 22.5%, and Japanese-based Mitsubishi holds the remaining 10%.
Be the first to comment on "Antamina hits commercial production"