Lundin Mining released its updated mineral reserves data on September 8 to set its goals for base metals production in 2021.
As of June 2020, the Canadian miner holds 5.5mn mt of copper, 3.1mn mt of zinc, 100,000mt of nickel, and 936,000mt of lead from explorations programs, in its reserves. Of this total estimate, the company expects most of the output from its Candeleria and Chapada mines in Chile and Brazil, respectively.
Candeleria is a copper-gold-silver underground mine with an estimated 1,179mn mt of ore, grading 0.65pc copper after a new study increased the estimate by 18pc from last year. The company owns 80pc of the mine, sharing the remaining 20pc with Sumitomo. Chapada is a wholly-owned copper-gold mine operated by Lundin’s Brazilian subsidiary, Mineração Maracá Indústria e Comércio. Current estimates and indicated mineral reserves point to 1,132mn mt of ore deposits, grading 0.23pc copper.
Lundin also owns the Eagle project, a high-grade copper and nickel mine in Marquette County, Michigan. The mine is expected to produce 133,809mt of copper and 165,561mt of nickel in its operational life. The company’s Neves-Corvo copper-zinc mine in Alentejo, Portugal includes two plants that process 2.6mn mt of copper concentrate and 1.1mn mt of zinc concentrate in a year.
The miner also operates the Zinkgruvan mine in south-central Sweden, which produces copper, lead, and zinc concentrates. Current drilling has indicated deposits of 22.6mn mt at 8.7pc zinc and 4pc lead along with 3.1mn mt of 1.9pc copper deposits.