Court halts exploration at Los Andes Copper’s Minera Vizcachitas project on potential endangered species impact  

Los Andes Copper (TSXV: LA; US-OTC: LSANF) has stopped drilling at its Minera Vizcachitas project in central Chile after an environment court asked it to suspend its operations in an order that deals with the protection of the Andean cat, a threatened species. 

The court order relates to the impact on the habitat of the vizcachas, a small rabbit that is part of the food chain for the Andean cat, the company said.  

“We will make filings with the court and we stand by our environmental assessment and believe that the regulator was right and correct in granting the permit,” Michael Jones, the company’s CEO told The Northern Miner by email.  

Recent proposals in Chile’s mining sector announced by the country’s new government, which took power earlier this month, have kept international miners on the edge. These include a new plan to open the door to the nationalization of some significant copper and lithium mines and talks of stricter environmental and social regulations.  

Jones, however, doesn’t think the court order suspending Los Andes’ environmental permit is linked to the new stream of potential changes. 

“The ruling made in this case is a judicial matter and therefore not related to changes from the election,” said Jones. “We believe the government will continue to see responsible mining as essential to Chile.”

Furthermore, he is confident that the new government is well aware of the important role that Chile will play in “supplying the world with the copper it needs to electrify as a broader environmental goal.”   

The company has completed about 6,600 metres of the 18,000-metre drill campaign it started last year after receiving the required permits. It aims to advance a prefeasibility study in early 2022. Assays of 5,400 meters of drilling are currently in progress.  

“The company firmly believes that our project does not cause or will not cause direct impact to the vizcachas – as already assessed in the environmental assessment process that led to our current environmental licence,” Jones said in a press release. “The company will prepare the necessary information to prove adequate measures have been taken.”  

Situated about 120 km north of Santiago, the Minera Vizcachitas project hosts measured and indicated resources of 1.3 billion tonnes grading 0.396% copper, 141.4 parts per million (ppm) molybdenum, and 1.05 ppm silver for contained metal of 11.2 billion lb. copper, 400 million lb. molybdenum and 43.4 million oz. silver.  

Inferred resources add 788.2 million tonnes grading 0.33% copper, 127 ppm molybdenum, 0.88 ppm silver for contained metal of 5.8 billion lb. copper, 221 million lb. molybdenum and 22.3 million oz. silver. 

A preliminary economic assessment completed in 2019 outlined an open pit mine with a life of 45 years. The early-stage study forecast an average of 0.53% copper-equivalent over first five years of operation.  

At an 8% discount rate, the project would generate a post-tax net present value of US$2.7 billion and a post-tax internal rate of return of 26.7% using metal prices of US$3.50 per pound.  

The study, which evaluated three cases with daily mill throughputs of 55,000 tonnes grading 0.52% copper,125 ppm molybdenum and 1.5 grams silver per tonne; 110,000 tonnes grading 0.47% copper, 129 ppm molybdenum and 1.3 grams silver per tonne; and 200,000 tonnes grading 0.44% copper, 113 ppm molybdenum and 1.2 grams per tonne silver, envisages a capital cost of about $1.3 billion to $2.8 billion  

At presstime in Toronto, Los Andes Copper was trading at $15 per share, down 12.79% or 2.10 within a 52-week trading range of $6.63 and $17.73. The company has 27.2 million common shares outstanding for a market cap of $410.4 million.