Argentina's Alumbrera preparing for underground operation

Argentina's Alumbrera copper-gold mine, in western Catamarca province, halted production at the open pit operation in late August.

The company – a JV between Glencore, Goldcorp and Yamana Gold – paused production to give way to an underground operation, which is due to begin production at the end of 2020 or early 2021, Walter Miñaura, an institutional relations official at Minera Alumbrera, told BNamericas .

"Early preparation tasks for an underground mining project are underway. The portals are being built for the mining work in two phases of underground operations," said Miñaura.

The company expects a 10-year life of mine with an initial investment of US$160mn. The mine will have production of 87,000t/y of copper concentrate.

The halt of open pit operations was expected, Miñaura added, but for various reasons was delayed. "Through the years of production, we identified new reserves and we began the exploitation of a deposit called Bajo el Durazno, which contributed to extend the life of the mine until now. The closure was planned for the end of 2018, but there was a landslide, which precipitated the closure to mid-2018."

The new underground operation will create 750 jobs between contractors and directly employed workers at its peak of production, compared to around 2.400 people in the open pit operation, Miñaura said.

Alumbrera started producing in 1998 when it was operated by Australia's MIM. Yacimientos Mineros de Agua de Dionisio (YMAD) holds the mining rights and was entitled to 20% of profits. YMAD is a partnership between the Catamarca provincial government, the national university of Tucuman and Argentina's government.