Antofagasta updates on US$4.4B Centinela expansion

Chilean miner Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) has started installing a second concentrator in a Centinela copper mine expansion aiming to increase the company’s total production of the wiring and plumbing metal by 22%. 

The US$4.4 billion Nueva Centinela project is to add 144,000 tonnes a year of copper to output and extend the mine’s life by 30 years, the company said this week. The work is 14% advanced after approval in December and is to be completed by 2027. 

“Nueva Centinela represents the group’s confidence in copper as a fundamental material for the global energy transition, where Chile is called to be a leading country,” CEO Iván Arriagada said in a release. “The project is already promoting regional employment and the development of local suppliers.”

Crews began blasting this month where the new facility and support infrastructure will be built at the mine in the country’s north. They’ve started prepping the site to hold new thickened tailings, a technology that minimizes fresh water needs and maximizes its recovery. 

The Centinela mine has been using this kind of waste storage since the beginning of its operation and it will be replicated in Nueva Centinela, the company said.

Molybdenum

The expansion project also includes increasing the current molybdenum plant’s capacity and a new development of the Esperanza Sur pit, plus the introduction of new autonomous trucks. 

Nueva Centinela is to incorporate other advanced technologies, such as high pressure grinding rolls, crushers that operate with large rollers and a system that will optimize the grinding process and reduce energy consumption, especially when treating harder ore. It also includes a low-friction conveyor belt of more than 6 km in length to connect the crushing area and the concentration plant.

The Centinela mining complex, located in Chile’s Antofagasta region, was created in 2014 from the merger of the Esperanza and El Tesoro mines. It produces copper concentrates containing gold and silver using a milling and flotation process. 

Antofagasta’s total copper output last year was 660,600 tonnes. 

The project’s peak construction stage is to employ more than 13,000 people, the company said. 

Shares in Antofagasta closed 2.8% higher in London on Wednesday at £21.41, valuing the company at £21.1 billion. They’ve traded in a 52-week range of £12.80 to £24.25.