Chile SEA watch: US$5.5bn in projects submitted in October

Chile's environmental evaluation service (SEA) received for consideration in October five mining-related projects involving a combined US$5.50bn in investment, according to information compiled by BNamericas.

The figure compares to just two mining projects, involving a combined US$941mn, received in September.

In total, SEA received 51 projects last month, with 32 involving planned investment of US$6.20bn being accepted for evaluation, while the remaining 19 projects, worth a combined US$114mn, were rejected or withdrawn on technical grounds, documents show.

The largest mining initiative is the QB2 expansion of Teck Resources' Quebrada Blanca mine in northern Tarapacá region (I). The US$5bn project involves building a new concentrator to process the sulfide ore beneath the depleting oxide resource.

Output in the first 10 years is expected to be 250,000t/y copper and 8,000t/y molybdenum from the 140,000t/d concentrator, with a total initial mine life of 25 years. It also includes a dedicated desalination plant and pipeline.

Next up was a US$370mn project to treat the arsenic-rich copper in concentrates of state copper giant Codelco's northern mines. The project, submitted by Codelco's metal recovery and processing subsidiary Ecometales, entails construction of an autoclave leaching plant with processing capacity of 220,000t/y.

Codelco also submitted a US$55mn project for the operational continuity of its smallest and most expensive mine, Salvador.

Meanwhile, Anglo American submitted a US$77mn project to upgrade worker facilities at its flagship Los Bronces mine (pictured).