Lading diversified miner Anglo American has announced first production of copper concentrate from its Quellaveco project in Peru, a major milestone as Quellaveco nears completion ahead of receiving final regulatory clearance for commercial operations to begin. Anglo American’s Mr Tom McCulley said “First copper production at Quellaveco is a key milestone in our delivery of this world-class asset, on time and on budget. The fact that we are today producing copper less than four years after project approval, including through two years of considerable pandemic-related disruption, is testament to the strength of our commitment to our workforce, local communities, the Moquegua region and government stakeholders in Peru. This first production of copper concentrate marks the beginning of the normal period of testing the processing plant with ore and the ramping up of mining activities to demonstrate readiness for operations.”Quellaveco is an open pit copper mine located in the Moquegua region in the south of Peru. Construction started in 2018, with estimated total capex of $5.5 billion, which includes the $0.6 billion additional cost of managing the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic since 2020. In 2021, Anglo American also approved the construction of a Coarse Particle Recovery plant to allow retreatment of coarse particles from flotation tailings to further enhance copper recovery rates.Quellaveco is expected to produce 300,000 tonnes of copper equivalent per year on average over the first 10 years of operation, at a highly competitive C1 unit cost of c. 95c/lb over the first five years once the operation reaches full production capacity.
Lading diversified miner Anglo American has announced first production of copper concentrate from its Quellaveco project in Peru, a major milestone as Quellaveco nears completion ahead of receiving final regulatory clearance for commercial operations to begin. Anglo American’s Mr Tom McCulley said “First copper production at Quellaveco is a key milestone in our delivery of this world-class asset, on time and on budget. The fact that we are today producing copper less than four years after project approval, including through two years of considerable pandemic-related disruption, is testament to the strength of our commitment to our workforce, local communities, the Moquegua region and government stakeholders in Peru. This first production of copper concentrate marks the beginning of the normal period of testing the processing plant with ore and the ramping up of mining activities to demonstrate readiness for operations.”Quellaveco is an open pit copper mine located in the Moquegua region in the south of Peru. Construction started in 2018, with estimated total capex of $5.5 billion, which includes the $0.6 billion additional cost of managing the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic since 2020. In 2021, Anglo American also approved the construction of a Coarse Particle Recovery plant to allow retreatment of coarse particles from flotation tailings to further enhance copper recovery rates.Quellaveco is expected to produce 300,000 tonnes of copper equivalent per year on average over the first 10 years of operation, at a highly competitive C1 unit cost of c. 95c/lb over the first five years once the operation reaches full production capacity.
