Antofagasta Minerals to Select Construction Firm by August for Copper and Gold Project in Chile

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Antofagasta Minerals S.A. (Santiago, Chile), the mining arm of Antofagasta plc (LSE:ANTO) (London), is expected to select a construction firm by the end of August to build a processing plant for the Esperanza copper and gold project in the Atacama Desert near the city of Sierra Gorda in Chile. The site is about two kilometers south of the company's El Tesoro mine.

The $1.9 billion Esperanza project entails the excavation of a 97,500-ton-per-day open pit mine and the construction of a 98,000-ton-per-day concentrator plant to produce about 700,000 tons of copper in concentrate per year and 200,000 ounces of gold per year. The concentrate will be transported through a 145-kilometer slurry pipeline from Esperanza to Michilla where a port and other facilities will be built. The project will utilize sea water that will be captured in Michilla and transported to Esperanza through a water pipeline to be constructed parallel to the slurry pipeline. Esperanza contains reserves of 786 million tons at an average grade of 0.53% copper and 0.20 grams of gold per ton with a mine life of about 25 years.

Antofagasta Minerals decided to proceed with the project's construction after Chile's Regional Environmental Commission (COREMA) approved the environmental impact study of the project in June 2008. Prestripping work began in February, along with the construction of roads and other camp and mine facilities. Project completion is set for the fourth quarter of 2010. Aker Solutions (OSL:AKSO) (Santiago) is providing engineering, procurement and construction/management services for the project. SKM Minmetals (Santiago) and Alquimia Ingenieros S.A. (Santiago) are also providing engineering services for this project.

Antofagasta Minerals S.A., operates the project through Minera Esperanza Limitada (Santiago). In Chile, Antofagasta Minerals owns and operates three mines: Los Pelambres, El Tesoro and Michilla. The company is also involved in mining exploration in Ecuador, Colombia and Pakistan.

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