Antofagasta Plc
Antofagasta Plc
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A poor March qtr due to protests at Los Pelambres and heavy rains at Centinela have contributed to a miserable first half for Chilean miner Antofagasta, Group copper production was 303,400t in the 6 months to June 2015, 12.9% lower than in H1 2014 primarily due to expected lower grades, lower throughput and recoveries at Los Pelambres.
With first production at Antucoya now delayed to the end of the Sept qtr, Antofagasta reduced full year guidance to 665,000t.
Australian-based CIMIC Group’s global mining company Thiess has won a $A137M, 4-year services agreement for Antofagasta Minerals’ $US636M Encuentro Oxides open pit copper mine in Chile, with first production expected in the second half of 2016.
The contract is Thiess’ first project in the Americas and in partnership with Emeco, begins pre-strip operations today.
Encuentro Oxides will produce an initial estimated average of 50,000tpa of copper cathode, rising to full capacity of 100,000tpa.
Monax Mining will persevere with exploration of its Punt Hill copper-gold project in South Australia after Chilean copper giant Antofagasta pulled out of its sole-funding agreement.
Chilean giant Antofagasta has pulled out of its agreement to sole-fund exploration on Monax’s Punt Hill copper-gold project in the north of South Australia.
Antofagasta had spent $US4M to earn 51% equity in the project and a further $0.7M before deciding not to continue. Monax reverts to 100% ownership of Punt Hill, while Antofagasta retains a 1.5% NSR and will be issued with 9.99% of Monax shares.
Chile has warned the global mining sector it must learn to deal in a new way with the community’s expectations of environmental and societal performance if it was to gain approval for billions of dollars in new projects.
The early qtr-on-qtr numbers point to a global decline in gold, copper and iron ore output, and of the big iron ore producers, only BHP has posted a March qtr increase. By SNL Metals & Mining analyst Chris Hinde
South Australian explorer Maximus aims to carry on with the search for iron-oxide/copper/gold mineralisation at its Millers Creek project in the Woomera area following the withdrawal of the Monax-Antifagasta alliance from its farm-in agreement.
Monax pulled out after just one drill hole, which stopped short of the target depth. Maximus says the primary target at Oliffes Dam still hasn’t been tested and plans to commence work in June-July once access approvals are finalised.
Water problems have sent Chilean copper giant Antofagasta’s Mar qtr 2015 (Q1 2015) copper production down 22% on the previous qtr to 146,400t and gold down 30% to 57,400oz.
Giant Canadian diversified miner Teck has denied a report it is holding early-stage talks on a possible merger with Chilean giant Antofagasta that would create one of the world’s biggest copper producers.
Responding to a Bloomberg report, Teck said it was not in discussions with Antofagasta "in relation to any form of transaction". Antofagasta issued a similar denial. Reuters
Anglo American has suspended operations at its Mantoverde copper mine as heavy rains in northern Chile have cut power supply, although its Mantos Blancos project is returning to normal after being partially affected.
Mines owned by Codelco, Antofagasta, Lundin Mining, KGHM International, JX Nippon Mining and Metals have suspended operations at mines, putting some 1.6Mt of capacity on hold.
Glencore’s Altonorte and Lomas Bayas mines were affected by power outages. BHP Billiton did not confirm the status of its Escondida mine operation. Reuters