A preliminary economic assessment shows close to an average of 40,000 t/y steady-state copper output is possible in the first six years of operation at the Marimaca copper project in northern Chile. Mine life is 12 years with around 430,000 t of copper produced in total. The average all-in-sustaining cash cost (AISC) is put at US$1.29 /lb of copper with the basic C1 cash costs averaging US$1.22 /lb and an average steady-state EBITDA of US$169 M. The pre-production capital cost will be US$285 M. Marimaca will be a conventional open-pit with heap leach, SXEW processing circuit focusing exclusively on oxide mineralisation.
展开▼
