Overview
Stage | Production |
Mine Type | Open Pit |
Commodities |
- Copper
- Molybdenum
- Gold
- Silver
|
Mining Method |
|
Processing |
- Crush-and-stack plant
- Sulfuric acid (reagent)
- Heap leach
- ROM/dump leach
- Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
|
Mine Life | 2041 |
Source:
p. 20
Freeport-McMoRan Inc has a 51 percent ownership interest in El Abra, and the remaining 49 percent interest is held by the state-owned copper enterprise Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile.
Summary:
The El Abra mine is a porphyry copper deposit that has sulfide and oxide mineralization. The predominant primary sulfide copper minerals are bornite and chalcopyrite. There is a minor amount of secondary sulfide mineralization as chalcocite. The oxide copper minerals are chrysocolla and pseudomalachite. There are lesser amounts of copper-bearing clays and tenorite.
Summary:
El Abra is an open-pit copper mining complex that has been in operation since 1996 and is located 47 miles north of Calama in Chile’s El Loa province, Region II.
The available fleet consists of twenty-three 242-metric-ton haul trucks loaded by four electric shovels with buckets ranging in size from 29 to 41 cubic meters, which are capable of moving 217,000 metric tons of material per day.
The highest bench elevation is 4,225 meters above sea level and the ultimate pit bottom is expected to be 3,385 meters above sea level.
Processing
- Crush-and-stack plant
- Sulfuric acid (reagent)
- Heap leach
- ROM/dump leach
- Solvent Extraction & Electrowinning
Source:
Summary:
The El Abra operation consists of an open-pit copper mine and a SX/EW facility with a capacity of 500 million pounds of copper cathode per year from a 125,000 metric ton-per-day crushed leach circuit and a similar-sized ROM leaching operation.
For ore subject to the SX/EW process, the ore is placed on stockpiles and copper is extracted from the ore by dissolving it with a weak sulphuric acid solution. The copper content of the solution is increased in two additional SX stages, and then the copper-bearing solution undergoes an EW process to produce cathode that is, on average, 99.99 percent copper.
Reserves at December 31, 2021:
Mineral Reserves Cut-off grades: Heap leach - 0.15 % Cu, ROM leach - 0.11 % Cu.
Mineral Resources Cut-off grades: Heap leach - 0.14 % Cu, ROM leach - 0.08 % Cu.
Category | OreType | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Proven
|
Heap leach
|
538 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.44 %
|
|
Proven
|
ROM leach
|
16 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.2 %
|
|
Probable
|
Heap leach
|
171 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.39 %
|
|
Probable
|
ROM leach
|
7 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.18 %
|
|
Proven & Probable
|
Heap leach
|
709 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.43 %
|
3.7 B lbs
|
Proven & Probable
|
ROM leach
|
22 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.19 %
|
|
Measured
|
Heap leach
|
883 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.45 %
|
|
Measured
|
ROM leach
|
64 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.24 %
|
|
Measured
|
Heap leach
|
883 Mt
|
Molybdenum
|
0.01 %
|
|
Measured
|
Heap leach
|
883 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.02 g/t
|
|
Measured
|
Heap leach
|
883 Mt
|
Silver
|
1.52 g/t
|
|
Indicated
|
Heap leach
|
1,513 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.37 %
|
|
Indicated
|
ROM leach
|
72 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.25 %
|
|
Indicated
|
Heap leach
|
1,513 Mt
|
Molybdenum
|
0.01 %
|
|
Indicated
|
Heap leach
|
1,513 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.02 g/t
|
|
Indicated
|
Heap leach
|
1,513 Mt
|
Silver
|
1.16 g/t
|
|
Inferred
|
Heap leach
|
1,012 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.31 %
|
|
Inferred
|
ROM leach
|
66 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.23 %
|
|
Inferred
|
Heap leach
|
1,012 Mt
|
Molybdenum
|
0.01 %
|
|
Inferred
|
Heap leach
|
1,012 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.01 g/t
|
|
Inferred
|
Heap leach
|
1,012 Mt
|
Silver
|
0.87 g/t
|
|
Total Resource
|
Heap leach
|
3,408 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.37 %
|
27.8 B lbs
|
Total Resource
|
ROM leach
|
203 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.24 %
|
1.1 B lbs
|
Total Resource
|
Heap leach
|
3,408 Mt
|
Molybdenum
|
0.01 %
|
0.62 B lbs
|
Total Resource
|
Heap leach
|
3,408 Mt
|
Gold
|
0.02 g/t
|
1.9 M oz
|
Total Resource
|
Heap leach
|
3,408 Mt
|
Silver
|
1.17 g/t
|
127.7 M oz
|
Commodity Production Costs:
| Commodity | Units | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
Cash costs
|
Copper
|
USD
|
2.13 / lb†
|
2 / lb†
|
1.77 / lb†
|
1.91 / lb†
|
† Net of By-Product.
Financials:
| Units | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
Revenue
|
M USD
| ......  | ......  | ......  | 596.1 |
501.1
|
After-tax Income
|
M USD
| ......  | ......  | ......  | 20.8 |
31.3
|
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Heavy Mobile Equipment as of December 31, 2021:
HME Type | Size | Quantity |
Shovel
|
41 cu. m
|
.......................
|
Truck (haul)
|
242 t
|
.......................
|
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