LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Antofagasta Plc.'s (ANTO.L) Chairman, Jean-Paul Luksic said, at the Company's Annual General Meeting, that considering a medium-sized mine can take two to three years to build and even longer to permit, this suggests a shortfall in global copper supply can be expected, and the longer term looks positive as well. At this time when demand is strong, the source of increased supply to satisfy this demand, is less clear. There is only one major greenfields site under construction and no others have been committed to for several years.
At Los Pelambres, the company plans to expand production by 55 thousand tonnes per year by investing in new equipment which will maximize throughput within the existing mine and plant permits. The Environmental Impact Study for the project was approved in February and this project is expected to be brought to the Board before the end of the year for approval and would start production in 2021.
At Centinela, the company has two alternatives for expanding the operation. The first alternative is to build a second concentrator. The second alternative is to expand the existing plant, utilizing some of the current infrastructure it has in place. This decision is also expected to be made by the Board by the end of this year.
Looking ahead to the future of the copper market, one of the most exciting trends to emerge in 2017 has been the increased interest in new technologies which use significantly more copper than established technologies. This is particularly the case for clean energy and electric vehicles.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX