Overview
Stage | Production |
Mine Type | Open Pit |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
|
Production Start | ... |
Mine Life | 2037 |
Caserones is a large low-grade copper-molybdenum mine with a low waste to ore strip ratio.
Ongoing improvements in plant availability and utilization coupled with mine-to-mill efforts will improve the fragmentation obtained from blasting and that plant throughput could ramp up beyond 35 Mt by 2027. |
Source:
p. 23,68
Lundin Mining is the operator after acquiring a 51% interest in Minera Lumina Copper Chile on July 13, 2023, with JX Metals Corporation holding the remaining 49% interest.
The Caserones Mine is owned and operated by SCM Minera Lumina Copper Chile SpA (Lumina Copper).
Contractors
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Summary:
Deposit Types
The porphyry style mineralization at Caserones is a typical Andean porphyry copper/molybdenum deposit. A generic description from Pantaleyev (1995) summarizes the common features of porphyries as large zones of hydrothermally altered rock containing quartz veins and stockworks, sulphide-bearing veinlets, fractures, and lesser disseminations in areas up to 10 km2 in size, commonly coincident wholly or in part with hydrothermal or intrusion breccias and dike swarms. Deposit boundaries are determined by economic factors that outline ore zones within larger areas of low-grade, concentrically zoned mineralization (Amec, 2005).
Mineralization
The Regalito Deposit strikes SE-NW with a length of approximately 2,000 m and a width of approximately 1,500 m. The oxide and secondary copper zones form a surface-parallel blanket over 1,200 m in diameter with a central “core” of at least 1,000 m in diameter where thicknesses average 300 m and exceed 400 m in the central part. Secondary copper grades within this central area are also slightly elevated above those in the surrounding parts of the deposit. Outboard of this “core” the zone thins, and grades are generally lower, although the enrichment blanket is still open to the southwest. The secondary copper zone has been modeled to approximately 4,000 m in elevation and deeper locally. It is generally coincident with the porphyry intrusive (Amec, 2005).
The oxide zone forms a cap that sits on top ........
Summary:
The Caserones mine is a large low-grade copper–molybdenum mine with a low ore to waste strip ratio. It is an operating mine with mature mining practices. Mining is done via open pit using a conventional truck and shovel fleet. The fleet is management via a mine dispatch system. All equipment is manned.
The following design parameters were used to generate the pit phases:
• ramp width: 35 m total with an effective width of approximately 29 m approx.
• maximum ramp slope: 10%
• minimum operational width: 50 m
• minimum phase width: 90 m except for bench ends
• double ramp access to ensure plan operability
Production Schedule
For the mine plan, a maximum vertical extraction of 10 benches or a maximum movement of 60 Mt ton per year is considered as a restriction for each phase. The concentrator is scheduled at 27.9 Mt in 2023 ramping up to 33.4 Mt by 2027. Oxide material is placed on the dump leach in the period it is mined.
Mine Operations
Operators work a seven day on seven days off schedule while staff/supervisors work a four day on three days off schedule. Due to the commute from the camp to the mine, days are 14.5 hours including a 12-hour shift, half hour lineout, and two hours of commuting from the camp to the mine. Shifts are scheduled from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Shift change takes approximately 20 minutes. The mine averages 15 days of inclement weather a year which varies between 3 and 45 days depending ........
Source:
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Flow Sheet:
Summary:
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Pipelines and Water Supply
Source:
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Reserves at December 31, 2023:
Mineral Reserves for the Caserones open pit are estimated using open pit discard NSR cut-off values of $11.70/t for ore processed at concentrating and $3.65/t for ore delivered to the heap leach and SX/EW processing.
Open pit Mineral Resources are reported within cut-off grade is 0.13% CuT.
Mineral Resources are reported inclusive of Mineral Reserves.
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Proven
|
352,876 kt
|
Copper
|
0.35 %
|
1,223 kt
|
Proven
|
352,876 kt
|
Molybdenum
|
0.01 %
|
37 kt
|
Probable
|
533,485 kt
|
Copper
|
0.28 %
|
1,494 kt
|
Probable
|
533,485 kt
|
Molybdenum
|
0.01 %
|
57 kt
|
Proven & Probable
|
886,361 kt
|
Copper
|
0.31 %
|
2,717 kt
|
Proven & Probable
|
886,361 kt
|
Molybdenum
|
0.01 %
|
94 kt
|
Measured
|
390,547 kt
|
Copper
|
0.34 %
|
1,343 kt
|
Measured
|
390,547 kt
|
Molybdenum
|
0.01 %
|
41 kt
|
Indicated
|
1,111,318 kt
|
Copper
|
0.26 %
|
2,936 kt
|
Indicated
|
1,111,318 kt
|
Molybdenum
|
0.01 %
|
113 kt
|
Measured & Indicated
|
1,501,865 kt
|
Copper
|
0.28 %
|
4,279 kt
|
Measured & Indicated
|
1,501,865 kt
|
Molybdenum
|
0.01 %
|
154 kt
|
Inferred
|
186,215 kt
|
Copper
|
0.22 %
|
412 kt
|
Inferred
|
186,215 kt
|
Molybdenum
|
0.01 %
|
16 kt
|
HME Type | Model | Size | Quantity | Leased or Contractor | Ref. Date | Source |
Backhoe
|
.......................
|
1.8 cu. yd
|
.......................
|
|
Dec 31, 2022
|
p.173
|
Bulldozer
|
.......................
|
455 kW
|
.......................
|
|
Dec 31, 2022
|
p.173
|
Bulldozer
|
.......................
|
664 kW
|
.......................
|
|
Dec 31, 2022
|
p.173
|
Dozer (crawler)
|
.......................
|
|
|
|
Dec 31, 2022
|
p.172
|
Dozer (rubber tire)
|
.......................
|
396 kW
|
.......................
|
|
Dec 31, 2022
|
p.173
|
Dozer (rubber tire)
|
.......................
|
637 kW
|
.......................
|
|
Dec 31, 2022
|
p.173
|
Drill
|
.......................
|
|
.......................
|
|
Dec 31, 2022
|
p.173
|
Grader
|
.......................
|
4.9 m
|
.......................
|
|
Aug 4, 2023
|
p.173
|
Grader
|
.......................
|
|
|
|
Dec 31, 2022
|
p.172
|
Loader (FEL)
|
.......................
|
50 cu. yd
|
.......................
|
|
Aug 4, 2023
|
p.173
|
Loader (mini)
|
.......................
|
|
.......................
|
|
Dec 31, 2022
|
p.173
|
Shovel
|
.......................
|
38 cu. yd
|
.......................
|
|
Dec 31, 2022
|
p.22
|
Shovel (hydraulic)
|
.......................
|
55 cu. yd
|
.......................
|
|
Jan 19, 2023
|
p.173
|
Shovel (rope)
|
.......................
|
73 cu. yd
|
.......................
|
|
Aug 4, 2023
|
p.173
|
Truck (haul)
|
.......................
|
300 t
|
.......................
|
|
Aug 4, 2023
|
p.2
|
Truck (water)
|
.......................
|
|
|
|
Dec 31, 2022
|
p.172
|
Truck (water)
|
.......................
|
75000 l
|
.......................
|
|
Dec 31, 2022
|
p.173
|
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