Overview
Stage | Pre-Feasibility |
Mine Type | Open Pit |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
|
Mine Life | 26 years (as of Jan 1, 2023) |
Vizcachitas copper-molybdenum project is a Tier 1 mining project with a large resource which remains open in most directions. It benefits from excellent existing infrastructure including transport, power and access to desalinated water as well as year-round working conditions.
The PFS results announced in February 2023 demonstrate a 26-year open pit operation targeting 136,000 tpd which at US$3.68/lb Copper generates an after tax NPV @ 8% of US$2.776bn, returning an IRR of 24% and C1 cash cost of US$0.93/lb Cu for the first 8 years. |
Source:
p. 23-24
The Vizcachitas Project includes 52 mining exploitation concessions covering a surface area of 10,771 ha and 175 exploration concessions covering a surface area of 48,600 ha. All concessions have been granted or are in the process of being granted by the court of Putaendo. Compañía Minera Vizcachitas Holding (CMVH) and Sociedad Legal Minera San José Uno de Lo Vicuña, El y Piguchén de Putaendo (SLM San José), both wholly-owned subsidiaries of Los Andes Copper, hold favourable and valid title deeds to the mining concessions above.
Contractors
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Deposit Type
- Vein / narrow vein
- Breccia pipe / Stockwork
- Porphyry
Summary:
The Vizcachitas mineral deposit has similar characteristics to other Andean-style porphyry copper and molybdenum mineral deposits. This type of mineralized deposit contains large masses of hydrothermally altered rocks, sulphide-bearing small veins, disseminated sulphides, quartz veins and stockworks that may cover several square kilometres. These altered areas are commonly coincident with shallow intrusives, hydrothermal breccias and intrusion breccia.
The Vizcachitas Project is a complex set of porphyries and hydrothermal breccias intruded into a sequence of andesitic and daciandesitic volcanic rocks of the Abanico Formation of the EoceneOligocene age.
The activation of the magmatic chamber began with the injection of the precursor granodiorite. The barren inter-mineral granodiorite outcrops on the western margin of the system. The precursor granodiorite is a granodiorite biotite-hornblende porphyry, with age varying from 12.7 to 12.4 Ma. It is challenging to identify because it is texturally similar to the inter-mineral granodiorite, especially with the overprinting alteration.
The productive complex starts with a diorite with early porphyry character, compositionally fine to medium-grained quartz diorites dominate along with crowded dioritic porphyry segments. The diorites occur mainly north of the phreatomagmatic breccia body and on the western edge of the system. They may also extend north-west, but this area has not been adequately dri ........
Summary:
An open pit mining method has been selected for the Vizcachitas deposit mainly based on the copper and molybdenum grades and the continuity of the mineralization occurring near the surface, which results in a low strip ratio for open pit mining. The mine has been scheduled to operate 365 days per year, considering negligible snow related downtime and minor heavy rainfall events. The plan is based on two 12 hour shifts per day. Mining operations include in-house drilling, blasting, loading, hauling and earthworks, as well as outsourced services. This TR presents the results obtained for the mine plan developed for a mill throughput of 136,000 tpd.
The pit optimization process was preceded by an economic valuation of the block model within the resource pit, where all blocks have an associated economic value that is negative for waste and Inferred Resources and positive or negative for the Measured and Indicated Resources. Although the Mineral Resources slightly increased on February 7, 2023 with an updated cost and metal prices scenario after the Mineral Reserves were determined, the result of this update is that the Mineral Reserves may be marginally under-estimated. The pit optimization process was performed using Whittle4X and the Lerchs–Grossman optimization algorithm.
Based on the pit optimization results, a set of operating mining phases were designed which considered average phase widths between 90 m and 150 m, sufficient to support mining for the ........
Source:
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Flow Sheet:
Summary:
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Pipelines and Water Supply
Source:
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Reserves at February 7, 2023:
The Mineral Resources are reported using a 0.25% copper cut-off.
Mineral Resources are reported inclusive of Mineral Reserves.
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
Proven & Probable
|
1,219,932 kt
|
Copper
|
0.36 %
|
9,623 M lbs
|
Proven & Probable
|
1,219,932 kt
|
Molybdenum
|
136 ppm
|
365 M lbs
|
Proven & Probable
|
1,219,932 kt
|
Silver
|
1.1 g/t
|
43.6 M oz
|
Proven & Probable
|
1,219,932 kt
|
Copper Equivalent
|
0.4 %
|
10,889 M lbs
|
Measured & Indicated
|
1,541 kt
|
Copper
|
0.383 %
|
13,021 M lbs
|
Measured & Indicated
|
1,541 kt
|
Molybdenum
|
155 ppm
|
526 M lbs
|
Measured & Indicated
|
1,541 kt
|
Silver
|
1.1 g/t
|
54 M oz
|
Measured & Indicated
|
1,541 kt
|
Copper Equivalent
|
0.436 %
|
14,801 M lbs
|
Inferred
|
1,823 kt
|
Copper
|
0.342 %
|
13,747 M lbs
|
Inferred
|
1,823 kt
|
Molybdenum
|
123 ppm
|
495 M lbs
|
Inferred
|
1,823 kt
|
Silver
|
0.9 g/t
|
55 M oz
|
Inferred
|
1,823 kt
|
Copper Equivalent
|
0.384 %
|
15,444 M lbs
|
Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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