Las Bambas copper mine is currently controlled by China's company in the largest copper mine, in recent years Las Bambas copper mine annual output of copper concentrate contains about 400,000 tons of copper, accounting for about 16.7% of the total copper production of Peruvian minerals, accounting for about 25% of China's total mineral copper production, ranking among the top five in the world.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >1 Introduction to the Las Bambas Copper Mine</h1>
The Las Bambas copper mine is a porphyry/silicone-type copper-molybdenum gold mine located in the peruvian province of Apurimac, northeast of Arequipa, 72 km southwest of Cuzco, 530 km southeast of Lima, peruvian capital, and about 90 km northwest of the Tintaya porphyry/sicarite type super large copper deposit (location: 14°06 S, 72°21'W). ）。 The mine is located in a continental arid desert steep deep-cut mountainous area at an altitude of 3700-5000 meters, consisting of ferrobamba, chalcobamba and Sulfobamba, forming a porphyry/silica-type mineral belt of about 15km long. The Copper Mountain Mine is located 8Km northwest of the Iron Mountain Mine, and the Sulfur Mountain Mine is located 5 km west of the Copper Mountain Mine.
The Las Bambas copper mine, along with world-class mines Tintaya, Antapaccay, Las Chancas, Constancia (Hudbay Minerals), haquria (First Quantum Minerals Company) and Quechua Project (Pan Pacific Copper), form part of the renowned Andahuaylas-Yauri mineralization belt.
Las Bambas Copper ore grades approximately 0.66% copper, molybdenum grades of approximately 0.0173%, Silver grades approximately 3.3 g/t and Gold grades of approximately 0.05 g/t.
Figure 1 Geographical location of the Las Bambas copper mine
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > 2 Construction and development of the Las Bambas copper mine</h1>
In August 2004, the Swiss company Xstrata PLC was awarded the Exploration and Priority Development Rights of Las Bambas.
In 2006, Xstrata decided to invest $1.5 billion in the exploration and development of the Las Bambas copper mine. After 6 years of exploration, it has developed from a mine to a world-class copper mine with an ore volume of more than 1 billion tons.
In mid-2010, the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines approved the environmental and social impact assessment report for the $4.2 billion Las Bambas copper mine construction project. The mining rights cover an area of 35,000 hectares and include iron mountain mines, copper mountain mines, sulfur mountain mines and Charcas.
In August 2010, Xstrata started the open pit mine, plant selection and supporting facilities, water, road and power construction.
In 2011, the concentrator began construction in an all-round way, with an annual processing scale of 51-70 million tons/year and 170,000-230,000 tons/day, making it the largest processing plant in Peru.
In 2012, Glencore and Xstrata merged.
In August 2013, Glencore had to meet the requirements of Chinese commerce to avoid the risk of antitrust investigations arising from the acquisition of Strata, and sold its high-quality asset, the Las Bambas copper mine in Peru, to Chinese companies, which has more than 10 million tons of copper reserves and has completed 45% of the construction progress as of June 2013.
After negotiations with many parties, in July 2014, the consortium led by Minmetals Resources Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China Minmetals Corporation, completed the equity delivery for US$7.005 billion, realizing the largest overseas M&A transaction in the history of China's metal mining industry and officially taking over the LasBambas mega copper mine in Peru. After more than two years of construction, the Las Bambas copper mine entered commercial production in July 2016.
Figure 2 Las Bambas copper mine under construction
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >3 Las Bambas copper production in 2020</h1>
According to the Minmetals Resources announcement, Las Bambas produced 84,000 tons of copper in the third quarter of copper concentrate, an increase of 44% from the second quarter, but due to the impact of the epidemic, production was lower than the same period in 2019. In addition, the issue of copper concentrate transport arising from disputes between communities along the Southern Road Corridor was resolved in early September.
The Company expects the Las Bambas Copper Mine to produce copper concentrates of approximately 305,000-315,000 tonnes of copper in 2020, with an average C1 cost of US$2,100 to US$2,200/t. According to the current price of LME copper (7768 US dollars / ton), the annual economic benefit is about 1.74 billion US dollars.
Figure 3 China Minmetals, the controller of the Las Bambas copper mine