Former Nevsun Resources leader, Peter Kukielski, will serve as interim-CEO, while the miner looks for a permanent boss.

Judge Elton Pupo Nogueira ruled that Vale is responsible for fixing all the damages, although he did not set a monetary value for compensation.

Southern Copper has spent years waiting for the final green light that consecutive governments had declined to give.

Now the Vancouver-based company can set a target date for its 2019 resource expansion and target testing drill program.

Brazil has a backlog of more than 20,000 areas where mining rights expired or were otherwise lost by their previous holders, equivalent to roughly 10% of the areas with pending mining permits.

Earlier this year, the company completed a preliminary economic assessment of its main Ivana deposit at Amarillo Grande.