The Cerro Verde mine is a porphyry copper deposit that has oxide and secondary sulfide mineralization, and primary sulfide mineralization. The predominant oxide copper minerals are brochantite, chrysocolla, malachite and copper “pitch.” Chalcocite and covellite are the most important secondary copper sulfide minerals. Chalcopyrite and molybdenite are the dominant primary sulfides.

Cerro Verde is an open-pit copper and molybdenum mining complex that has been in operation since 1976.

The available fleet consists of fifty-four 300-metric-ton haul trucks and ninety-three 245-metric-ton haul trucks (21 of which are currently on standby) and three 363-metric-ton leased haul trucks loaded by thirteen electric shovels with bucket sizes ranging in size from 33 to 57 cubic meters and two hydraulic shovels with a bucket size of 21 cubic meters (both of which are currently on standby). This fleet is capable of moving an average of approximately 970,000 metric tons of material per day.

The highest bench elevation is 2,810 meters above sea level and the ultimate pit bottom is expected to be 1,523 meters above sea level.

The original concentrator design included the use of High Pressure Grinding Rolls (HPGRs) for tertiary comminution, which was the first base metal concentrator to use HPGR technology. The materials handling system involves primary and secondary crushers, HPGR units and crushing, mill grinding, screening, and conveying systems.

Cerro Verde’s operation consists of two concentrating facilities with a total milling design capacity of 360,000 metric tons of ore per day and SX/EW leaching facilities. Leach copper production is derived from a 39,000-metric-ton-perday crushed leach facility and a 100,000-metric-ton-per-day ROM leach system. This SX/EW leaching operation has a capacity of approximately 200 million pounds of copper per year.


Copper recovery is achieved with multistage flotation technology with regrinding of middling products. Fluor, having successfully designed and built the original, 108,000 tpd Cerro Verde C1 (debottlenecked to 120,000 tpd) copper/molybdenum concentrator in 2007.

The 240,000 tpd Cerro Verde Production Unit Expansion concentrator design is based on conventional copper sulfide flotation unit operations, replicating the C1 process but includes larger process equipment at a separate location on the mine property.

The phased start-up of the new con ........