Mantoverde has secured an $846.6mn financing package to invest in the development of Mantoverde’s sulphide project in the Atacama region of Chile.
The investment includes a 12-year $520mn senior secured amortizing project debt facility and a 10-year $51.6mn senior secured closure bonding facility, Mantos Copper announced in a statement. The debt financing complements $275mn in equity proceeds secured from the Japanese conglomerated Mitsubishi Materials Corporation (MMC), which acquired a 30pc stake in the Mantoverde project last week.
Once operations commence in 2023, the mine will produce 110,000mt of copper per year. Mantoverde is a brownfield copper project that includes building a copper concentrator and associated facilities to process ore from the sulphide deposit at the facility. The mine holds a total of 5.7mn mt of contained copper and the mining works will extend its life to 2041.
Chile’s copper production fell by 0.87pc to 5.73mn mt in 2020, from 5.78mn mt in 2019 according to the Chilean Copper Commission (Cochilco). It is expected to increase by 3.6pc to 6mn mt this year. Copper prices reached $3.82/lb on Tuesday, Feb 16, up by 0.27pc compared to the prior day.