By Josh White
Date: Tuesday 14 Dec 2021
LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Antofagasta updated the market on its planning on Tuesday, reporting that five-year production could reach 900,000 tonnes of copper by 2026 if the Second Concentrator project at Centinela was approved by the end of 2022.
The FTSE 100 miner, which was holding its capital markets day, said it was looking at 18 billion tonnes of mineral resources, with seven billion tonnes in the Centinela mining district and six billion tonnes at Los Pelambres.
It said it was looking to use a proprietary primary sulphide leach technology which, if proved successful, could unlock previously uneconomic tonnes from lower grade chalcopyrite ore.
Antofagasta said 2022 capital expenditure guidance would be given in the fourth quarter production report, together with mine-by-mine production and cost guidance, once a review of the Los Pelambres Expansion project was finalised.
Looking at its green credentials, Antofagasta said 90% of water used in our operations was expected to be from seawater or recirculated water by 2025, while 100% of its energy requirement in operations was planned to be from renewables by the end of 2022.
The company said it was "building out" new ways of mining using autonomous trucks, remote operating centres and establishing a 'digital academy', so its employees could work in a "safer and healthier" environment.
It said it was making "strong" social commitments, working with local suppliers and communities, while its expanded capital allocation framework now included climate change factors.
"Antofagasta is a pure play copper producer with high quality assets in Chile, supported by a team that delivers reliably and responsibly through the cycle," said chief executive officer Iván Arriagada.
"Today you will hear from our team as we discuss how we mine and what we are doing to progress the future of mining in a way that is sustainable and delivers value for all our stakeholders.
"You will also hear about the embedded growth options we have in our portfolio and the levers we have to unlock that growth, in a value-accretive way, over many years to come."
At 09219 GMT, shares in Antofagasta were up 1.01% at 1,400.5p.
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