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Spain

Cobre Las Cruces Mine

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Overview

Mine TypeTailings
StatusClosing / Closed
Commodities
  • Copper
  • Gold
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Production Start... Lock
SnapshotIn 2021, the Las Cruces mine transitioned from open-pit mining to re-processing of high-grade tailings, with production now completed. Work on the Las Cruces Underground Project continues to advance, with an engineering study completed during the fourth quarter of 2023.

The operation completed re-processing of high grade tailings in June 2023, with the final sale of copper cathodes in July 2023.

On February 20, 2024, the Company filed an updated NI 43-101 Technical Report on Mineral Resources and Reserves for the Las Cruces Underground Project.

In 2023, a sales process for the Las Cruces mine in Spain is well-advanced with strong interest given the strategic location and processing capabilities of the project.
Related AssetCobre Las Cruces(Underground) Project

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
First Quantum Minerals Ltd. 100 % Indirect
Cobre Las Cruces, S.A. (operator) 100 % Direct
Cobre Las Cruces S.A. is the owner and operator of the Cobre Las Cruces mine in Spain. Cobre Las Cruces S.A. is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of the First Quantum Minerals Ltd.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Tailings

Summary:

Tailings
At CLC, the TSF is an engineered structure constructed from compacted marl and a synthetic liner. This facility receives filtered leach residue from the operations for permanent storage. The tailings are passed through vertical press filters to produce a very-low moisture content final tails product. Tailings deposition commenced in 2009 and ended in 2021.

Property Geology
The Cobre Las Cruces (CLC) deposit is overlain by 150 to 200 m of Cenozoic Guadalquivir Basin sediments which, towards the base, hosts a confined porous aquifer (1 to 3 m thick) known as the Niebla-Posadas Aquifer. The aquifer has a ph of ~ 8.0, low salinity and a temperature of 18-31 °C. The host Paleozoic sequence underlies these basin sediments and has an east-west strike, dipping between 20° to 45° to the north. The Paleozoic rocks also contain pressurised water which is more saline and with temperatures between 22 to 43 °C. No methane has been intersected in either of the aquifers.

Deposit Types
The CLC deposit is a Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS) deposit which has resulted from precipitation of metals from hydrothermal fluids in a volcanically active sub-marine area. The metals precipitate as sulphides inter-layered with the volcanic sediments. Consequently, CLC’s mineralization is hosted by black shales, sedimentary and felsic volcaniclastic rocks.

The deposit is characterized by a tabular dipping massive sulphide body underlain by a stockwork vein system. The deposit has been folded and faulted, resulting in dislocated mineralised volumes. Hydrothermal alteration is typically chloritic/quartz sericitic and is restricted to the stockwork zones. CLC deposit shows zonation where copper rich volumes are flanked by zinc and lead mineralization. Lead, zinc and silver tend to concentrate in unevenly distributed polymetallic zones. Minor gold is noted in both polymetallic and copper rich areas. Pyrite is dispersed throughout.

At CLC, post-deposition tectonism uplifted the deposit, exposing it to erosion and weathering with partial oxidation of some of the primary sulphides. An uppermost copper-leached gossan resulted with some immobile gold and silver and overlies the cementation zone of secondary sulphide mineralization.

Primary Polymetallic Sulphide (PPS) Mineralization
PPS mineralization comprises two mineralization domains, primary massive sulphides and semi-massive primary sulphides or stockwork.

The primary massive sulphide occurs as a single 30 to 130 m thick lens with around 1,000 m of strike and a 500 m down dip length. Primary mineralization underlies secondary mineralization and is open at depth and to the northeast. Mineralization thickens to the west but is truncated by a north-south striking fault. The PPS massive sulphide mineralisation is underlain by a zone of mineralised stockworks.

The primary massive sulphides have an upper Zn-rich zone and a lower Cu-rich zone interbedded with barren massive pyrite. Sulphides are dominated by pyrite with chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and galena. The polymetallic zones contain centimetre-thick bands of alternating pyrite + chalcopyrite and sphalerite + chalcopyrite + galena. Deformation is responsible for the formation of alternating layers of sphalerite-chalcopyrite-galena and pyrite. The sulphides other than pyrite show widespread recrystallization to a granoblastic assemblage hosting abundant minute subhedral pyrite.

The massive sulphides show conspicuous layering with few clear sedimentary features. Features include banding and graded bedding, especially in the interbedded shale and chert. However, the widespread late recrystallization has masked most primary features.

While the uppermost shale-hosted massive sulphides are likely to be exhalative, the lowermost orebody formed mainly by replacement. Evidence of replacement includes the presence of relicts of variably altered dacite within the massive sulphides and a gradual contact with the underlying stockwork mineralised zone. No oxidation has been observed in the hanging wall of the massive sulphides, thus indicating that seafloor oxidation processes were minimal and that the massive sulphides were originally isolated from an oxidising open ocean.

The PPS massive sulphide mineralization is underlain by a mineralised stockwork and related hydrothermal zone which extends some 200 m beneath the massive sulphides and tends to be copper rich with localized zinc. The stockwork is hosted in hyaloclastic dacite and shale having chlorite ± quartz alteration. The stockwork veins are between 0.5 to 2 cm thick and are folded or sub-parallel to the dominant foliation.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Production

The operation completed re-processing of high grade tailings in June 2023, with the final sale of copper cathodes in July 2023.
CommodityUnits202320222021202020192018201720162015
Copper t  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe48,09070,73873,66473,64370,029
All production numbers are expressed as cathode.

Operational metrics

Metrics202320222021202020192018201720162015
Annual production capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe72,000 t of copper cathode72,000 t of copper cathode72,000 t of copper cathode
Ore tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe897 kt1,682 kt2,422 kt1,330 kt1,537 kt
Tonnes processed  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe1,354 kt1,544 kt1,619 kt1,538 kt1,500 kt
Waste OP  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe2,884 kt14,936 kt14,589 kt13,644 kt15,459 kt
Total tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Annual processing capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe1.6 Mt1.5 Mt

Production Costs

CommodityUnits2023202220212020201920182017
All-in sustaining costs (AISC) Copper USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 1.35 / lb   1.16 / lb   1.06 / lb  
C1 cash costs Copper USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 1.17 / lb   0.9 / lb   0.86 / lb  
C3 fully allocated costs Copper USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 3.08 / lb   2.25 / lb   2.15 / lb  

Financials

Units20242023202220212020201920182017
Capital expenditures (planned) M USD  ....  Subscribe
Capital expenditures M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 24   34   22  
Revenue M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 291   470   461  
Gross profit M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe -38   116   106  
Operating Income M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe -136   120   102  
EBITDA M USD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 167   326   316  

Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jun 13, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jun 13, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jun 13, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jun 13, 2024
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Jun 13, 2024

Total WorkforceYear
...... Subscription required 2017
...... Subscription required 2016
...... Subscription required 2015

Aerial view:

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