Anglo American (LON: AAL) said on Tuesday it had begun producing copper concentrate as its $5.5 billion Quellaveco mine in Peru, which is expected to churn out between 100,000 and 150,000 tonnes this year.
The company, which has a 60% stake in the mine, earlier this year forecast the copper project to produce 100,000 to 150,000 tonnes this year, boosting the company’s overall copper production for 2022 to between 680,000 and 760,000 tonnes.
First ore at Quellaveco, located in the Moquegua region of Peru, was mined in October 2021 and Anglo American expects the asset to generate 300,000 tonnes of copper per year for the first 10 years at full production.
The project is being delivered on time and budget despite two years of pandemic-triggered downtime, project leader Tom McCulley said. “This first production of copper concentrate marks the beginning of the normal period of testing the processing plant with ore and the ramping up of mining activities to demonstrate readiness for operations,” McCulley said in the statement.
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