BHP bets billions on Chile mines to face global copper crunch
BHP detailed to investors this week plans to spend $10.7 billion to $14.7 billion within about 10 years.
Brazil’s Vale has sold its 90% stake in Chilean copper miner Minera Tres Valles to the wealthy and local Vecchiola family in a transaction estimated in $25 million, way below the $200 million the Rio de Janeiro-based company had invested in the operation.
Vale, the world’s largest producer of iron ore, said Monday the sale was part of its effort to focus on “world-class assets” in its core businesses and that it was closed only six months after it announced it was planning to dump the operation.
Tres Valles, in operations since 2010, consists of two mines, an underground and an open-pit one, with capacity to produce 18,500 metric tons per year of copper cathode.
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