Chile boost for Xstrata and Anglo

29th Jul 2010 08:27

An "impressive uplift" in the mineral resource estimate at Collahuasi, Chile's third largest copper mine, is good news for Xstrata and Anglo American who each own a 44% stake in the business.Following new drill results, modeling changes and metal price assumption adjustments, the new Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resource estimate is now 7.094bn tonnes at an average grade of 0.82% copper and 269 parts per million (ppm) of molybdenum, representing 58m tonnes of contained copper metal.That means the total tonnage of the mineral resource has risen by 40%, or more than 2bn tonnes, compared to December's estimate.Mining reserves are up by 315m tonnes to 2.453bn tonnes at a grade of 0.82% copper compared to December."The impressive uplift in the mineral resource base at Collahuasi provides a clear indication of the further expansion potential at Collahuasi, at a time when we continue to progressively increase the throughput capacity of the main processing facilities through ongoing operational improvements and staged, incremental capital expansions," said Jon Evans, chief executive of Collahuasi."We are progressing with concept studies into the alternatives to expand Collahuasi's operations to ultimately produce more than one million tonnes of copper annually, with the view to completing the studies in the first quarter of 2011 prior to a decision on moving into the pre-feasibility study".