The Quebrada Blanca orebody is a porphyry copper deposit located in a 30-40 kilometre wide belt of volcanic and sedimentary rocks which contains a number of the world’s largest copper mines including Collahuasi (10 kilometres to the east) and Chuquicamata (190 kilometres to the south). All of these deposits are spatially related to a major north-south fault, the West Fissure Fault, or to splays off this fault.

The Quebrada Blanca orebody occurs within a 2 kilometre by 5 kilometre quartz monzonite intrusive stock. Supergene enrichment processes have dissolved and redeposited primary (hypogene) chalcopyrite as a blanket of supergene copper sulphides, the most important being chalcocite and covellite, with lesser copper oxides/silicates such as chrysocolla in the oxide zone. Irregular transition zones, with (locally) faulted contacts separate the higher and lower grade supergene/dump leach ores from the leached cap and hypogene zones.

The initial open pit mine at Quebrada Blanca (the Quebrada Blanca Phase 1 operation or QB1) commenced operation in 1994, exploiting supergene copper mineralization. To date, operations at the mine have used a heap leach and dump leach and solvent extraction/electrowinning (SX/EW) process. The supergene ore is now depleted and mining operations ceased in October 2018; however, the SX/EW plant will continue to produce cathodes throughout 2019 and 2020 from existing supergene leaching pads.


The Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 project (QB2) is planned to exploit hypogene mineralization below the supergene mineralization mined in QB1. The environmental impact assessment (EIA) for QB2 was prepared in 2016, and approved by the Chilean environmental authorities in August 2018. The Teck board has approved the QB2 project for full construction, with first production targeted for the second half of 2021.

Quebrada Blanca is an open-pit mine which produces ore for both heap leach and lower grade dump leach production. Copper-bearing solutions are collected from the heap and dump leach pads for processing in an SX-EW plant which produces copper cathode. Copper cathode is trucked to Iquique for shipment to purchasers.

Ore is delivered from the pit to a primary crusher, crushed and then discharged by conveyor belt to a coarse ore stockpile. Ore is drawn from the coarse ore stockpile by conveyor belts feeding a vibrating screen with oversize in turn passing through a secondary standard cone crusher. The product is then conveyed to five surge bins, which feed five tertiary screens. The oversize product is passed through five tertiary crushers. Ore is received at the agglomeration drum from a conveyor belt discharging into a fine ore bin. Ore passes through one of two agglomeration drums. Agglomerated ore is transported by a system of overland conveyors, tripper, and grasshopper conveyors to a stacker in which ore is placed on the dynamic leach pads in 8 m high layers.

The heap leach is augmented by a run-of-mine dump leach.

Sulphuric acid leaching of ore is accomplished with a system of drip emitters placed on top of the leach pads. The pregnant leach solution (PLS) exiting the leach pads is stored in a pond prior to being sent to the SX/EW plant.

The PLS is mixed with organic and diluent to capture the copper and increase the concentration. The organic is stripped with spent electrolyte. Raffinate is sent to a raffinate storage pond to be recycled in the heap leaching process together with the dump leach PLS. The tank house consists of 264 cells containing 1 m2 stainless steel cathodes. Cathodes are harvested 24 hours a day and are 100% LME grade A quality.