Chile's national mining company Codelco has approved a $1.383 billion renovation and expansion of its Salvador mine, which will start in the first half of 2021.
The main objective of this expansion is to remove the rock overlying the deposit. Initial stripping is expected to take approximately 22 months and is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.
The expansion will convert the mine from an underground mine that has been operating since 1959 to an open-pit mine. It will also increase annual production by 30 percent, with Codelco predicting the Salvador mine will be capable of producing 90,000 tonnes of copper by 2023.
Codelco said the cost of the expansion project was 33 per cent lower than its initial estimate in 2014 as a result of optimisation of existing infrastructure and processes.
The Salvador mine, however, is the least productive of Codelco's mines, producing just 50,600 tonnes of copper in 2019, or 3 per cent of Codelco's copper output.
In recent years, Codelco has invested in a number of structured projects to ensure the company's copper production as its Chilean copper mines decline in grade.
