Chinalco to Develop Copper and Silver Ore Mine in Peru

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Minera Chinalco Toromocho (Lima, Peru), a wholly owned subsidiary of Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco) (Beijing), is awaiting environmental permit approval to move forward with the Toromocho copper and silver project, in which the company plans to invest $2.15 billion and generate 2,500 direct jobs.

Toromocho is located near the city of Morococha, in Peru. The development of the project entails the construction of an open-pit mine, a 117,000-ton-per-day concentrator plant and a solvent-extraction and electro-winning plant. Once the permits are obtained, the company expects to start construction by mid-2009 with project completion set for 2011. Toromocho holds reserves of 1.53 million tons at a grade of 0.48% copper and 6.9 grams per ton of silver and has an estimated mine life of 36 years. It is estimated that Toromocho will increase Peruvian copper production by about 20%. Aker Solutions (Santiago, Chile) was awarded a contract for the provision of technical services for basic engineering and additional testing for this project.

In August 2007, Chinalco acquired the Toromocho project with the purchase of the Peru Copper Incorporated (Vancouver, Canada) for $792 million. Chinalco is one of the largest Chinese state-owned enterprises. It is the second-largest producer of alumina and the third largest producer of primary aluminum in the world.

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