Minera Candelaria's Seawater Desalination Plant Begins Operations

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Researched by Industrial Info Research Latin America (Córdoba, Argentina)--Minera Candelaria, a joint venture company between Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Incorporated (NYSE:FCX) (Phoenix, Arizona) and Sumitomo Corporation (TSE:8031) (Tokyo, Japan), began operations at its seawater desalination plant in the Punta Padrones Area, in Caldera City (Atacama), in June.

The plant is designed to supply 500 liters per second to the operational Candelaria open pit copper mine thought an 80-kilometer pipeline. The construction started in late 2011 in the Punta Padrones area. Companies such as Hatch Ingenieros y Consultores Limitada (Santiago, Chile) and Aqualia S.A. (Madrid, Spain) were involved in the $170 million project.

Due to the leakage of water in northern Chile, seawater desalination is much-needed in the mining industry, with nearly 20 projects under way to provide this key resource.

Codelco (Santiago, Chile), a global leader in copper production, is developing a feasibility study for a 2,000-liter-per-second plant to provide desalinated water to the Radomiro Tomic operation (Sulfide II project). BHP Billiton plc (NYSE:BHP) (London, England) is also working on a 2,500-liter-per-second desalination project to supply the Escondida copper mine operation. It expects to begin construction in 2014.

Chile expects to invest more than $10 billion in the coming years to develop desalinate and non-desalinate seawater supply projects, and provide more than 10,000 liters per second of water.

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