The construction of Peru-based company Minera Zafranal’s Zafranal copper-gold project in the Arequipa region is expected to start in late 2022 and copper production will begin in the first half of 2025 (H1 FY25), according to local media reports citing company officials. The project has an estimated mine life of 19 years and is projected to produce 76,000mt of copper per annum.
The Victoria pit will come into operations in May 2025 which will include a primary crushing plant and a conveyor belt of about 3,500m. The belt will carry the ore through a tunnel to the concentrator plant.
The concentrates will then be delivered to a storage area with a capacity of 40,000mt at the port of Matarani. The plant will be the eighth or the ninth-largest in Peru, as per media reports.
The company plans to conduct a tender to hire an EPCM company for the project in late 2021 or early 2022. The total investment for the project is $1.47bn, of which $193mn has already been invested.
Currently, few details of the environmental impact study are being refined, which will be submitted in FY21. Minera Zafranal is a joint venture between Canada’s Teck Resources and Mitsubishi Materials Corporation.