Chinalco could invest $426 million in Suriname bauxite project
If approved by parliament, Chinalco could begin construction by the middle of next year.
Los Andes Copper (TSXV: LA; US-OTCQX) is eager to restart drilling at the flagship Vizcachitas porphyry copper-molybdenum deposit in Chile while it works in parallel to publish a pre-feasibility study on the project before year-end.
“General engineering work, infrastructure planning, plant design and environmental considerations are all on track with the plan to complete the (prefeasibility) in the fourth quarter,” CEO Michael Jones told The Northern Miner.
“The successful drilling completed in 2022 has been incorporated into the resource model, and opportunities to increase the potential project mining rate are being assessed,” Jones said in an interview.
Jones says the company is currently mobilizing drill teams after a July environmental court decision reinstating the drilling permit with certain operational conditions, including a restricted drilling plan for the first 12 months.
He underlined that the exploration and PFS workstreams could progress independently of each other, given a March court resolution asking the company to suspend drilling in an order that deals with protecting the Andean cat, a threatened species. The court order related to the impact on the habitat of the vizcachas, a small rabbit that is part of the food chain for the Andean cat, the company said at the time.
“Our drilling plan will allow the company to pursue its original program of illuminating and defining extensions of the mineralized body, which remains open,” Jones said. “Drilling is planned to resume soon to expand the resources beyond those currently considered in the (prefeasibility).” Alluding to the deposit’s growth potential, he added that large-scale intercepts of up to 1,000 metres of mineralization announced this year are still open in the deposit model.
