Vancouver — Looking to gain a foothold in Mexico’s Chihuahua state,
Anglo American can earn an 80% stake in the property by spending US$1.75 million and paying US$300,000 over five years.
The region has a mining history dating back to the 1850s, when oxide ore with high base metal values was high-graded (primarily for its gold content). Today, the area is home to Industrias Peoles’ Naica copper-lead-zinc mine, which has been in production since 1895, and Grupo Mexico’s Santa Barbara copper-lead-zinc operations. Mineralization is typically “replacement-style,” with most of the ore at Naica derived from the Torino-Tehuacan breccia pipe.
Regionally, the geology is marked by a 14-by-12-km hydrothermal alteration system associated with Cretaceous limestones.
Anglo aims to complete geological and structural mapping, combined with geochemical and geophyscal surveys, to define drill targets.
Western Copper, for its part, is busy advancing its wholly owned Penasquito silver-gold-lead-zinc property in the Concepcion del Oro district of Mexico’s Zacatecas state. A resource calculation is expected shortly.per belt, about 200 km to the southwest.
Life-of-mine production is pegged at 624,000 tonnes copper cathode, 413,000 tonnes copper-in-concentrate and 460,000 oz. gold. This assumes average recovery rates of 82% for copper and 73% for gold. Operating costs are expected to average US$12.90 per tonne of material treated, or US35 per lb. copper produced, net of byproduct credits.
Stage one would last 11 years, should an ongoing feasibility study confirm Minproc’s projections. The study is scheduled for completion by year-end.
The second stage, which is still under review, focuses on 197 million tonnes of primary mineralization grading 1.16% copper and 0.27 gram gold. The resource estimate is contained in a
Should First Quantum succeed at Kansanshi, it must pay Phelps Dodge US$25 million a month after the first metal is produced. The payment will be reduced by an amount equivalent to 1.4 million First Quantum shares, which were issued as partial payment, at prevailing prices.
First Quantum owns an 80% stake in Kansanshi, with the remainder held by state-owned Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines.
In addition to Kansanshi, First Quantum owns and operates the Bwana Mkubwa tailings recovery plant, which sits in the southern part of the Central Copper belt. The SX-EW plant was recently expanded so that oxide ore from the nearby Lonshi deposit, in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, could be blended with the tailings.
Starting in January, Bwana Mkubwa is expected to produce 30,000 tonnes copper cathode per year, or 20,000 tonnes more than before. Cash costs are expected to rise in tandem, to about US30 per lb., net of sulphuric acid credits.
Reserves at Lonshi are pegged at 5.1 million tonnes grading 5.75% copper. The reserve is divided evenly between measured and indicated categories, though most of the indicated material is expected to be bumped up once recent infill drilling results are included in the resource model.
First Quantum also holds 16.9% effective interest in Mopani Copper Mines, which, in turn, owns a 90% stake in the Nkana and Mufalira copper-cobalt mines, north of Bwana Mkubwa. The company had owned 44% before it accepting the reduction in lieu of US$21.85 million of outstanding debt. Attributable production from Mopani topped 5,636 tonnes copper and 68 tonnes cobalt in the third quarter.
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