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Canadian miners Goldcorp (TSX:G), (NYSE:GG) and Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.A & TCK.B) (NYSE:TCK) are moving ahead with their new $3.5 billion mine in Chile’s Atacama region, with a pre-feasibility study expected to be ready by the second half of 2017.
The $3.5 billion mine will mean lower costs and improved capital efficiency — before joining El Morro and Relincho, the estimated costs for each project were $3.9 billion and $4.5 billion respectively.
The 50/50 joint venture, expected to be one of the largest copper-gold-molybdenum mines ever-developed in Latin America, will now be known as NuevaUnion (meaning new union), to symbolize the merger of their two projects in the region, El Morro and Relincho, announced last year.
The miners are currently working on several scenarios and development plans to complete a pre-feasibility study, they said in an e-mailed statement. They also plan to begin working on the environmental and social aspects of the project in the second half of this year, they noted.
NuevaUnion is expected to provide Goldcorp and Teck with a number of key benefits, including reduced environmental footprint, an optimized mine plan, enhanced community benefits and greater returns over either standalone project.
Overall, the mine will mean lower costs and improved capital efficiency — before joining El Morro and Relincho, the estimated costs for each project were $3.9 billion and $4.5 billion respectively.
NuevaUnion is expected to be one of the largest copper-gold-molybdenum mines ever-developed in Latin America.
Based on the results of a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA), initial stage development of Project NuevaUnion contemplates a conveyor to transport ore from the El Morro site to a single line mill and concentrator facility at the Relincho site with an initial capacity in the range of 90,000 – 110,000 tonnes per day.
NuevaUnion will have a 32-year lifespan and produce an average of 190,000 tonnes of copper and 315,000 ounces of gold a year, over the first decade.
