Market Survey on Copper - Indian Bureau of Mines

unoff and seepage, and from the low-grade stockpiles as well as general runoff. An
appropriate method for removing any dissolved metals is being researched and
implemented.
Mine Production
Antamina is noted for the high variability in the contents of individual metals in
its ores. Thus in 2004, the mine came into an area of higher copper and molybdenum
grades, with less zinc than in 2003. Metal production during for 2004 was 362,100t of
copper, 190,100t of zinc and 3,600t of molybdenum.
In calendar 2005, a total of 30.1Mt of sulphide ore was processed, at average
grades of 1.36% copper and 1.15% zinc. This involved the movement of 128Mt of
material in total, and led to the production of 361,500t of copper, 156,100t of zinc,
9.1Moz of silver and 6,720t of molybdenum. In 2004, the mine came into an area of
higher copper and molybdenum grades, with less zinc than in 2003.
In 2006, ore production dropped by around 8% as a result of the need to use
longer haulage distances than had been originally planned. In addition, although the
total concentrator throughput remained much the same as 2005, its relative
composition showed some changes.
Zinc concentrate production fell by around 15% due to a lower grade feed and
harder rock forced a drop in the throughput for copper-zinc ores, although this was
offset by higher milling-rates for copper-only ore.
In total, 2006 saw the production of 384,200t of copper, 156,100t of zinc and
7,730t molybdenum, from 30.25Mt of ore. Copper and molybdenum head grades
together with copper recovery rates have shown slight improvements year on year.
Sales volumes of both these metals increased, benefiting from strong commodity
pricing in 2006 with improved recoveries – some 8% higher than that in the previous
year – helping to drive molybdenum sales up by nearly 10%.
However, 2007 has seen lower-grade ore cause a decrease in the mine's copper
output; with the price of this metal having rallied by 25% over the year, it is planned
to focus heavily on the production of copper from October through to the start of
2008.
In 2009, approximately 11.3Mt of zinc ore was processed at Antamina, an
increase of 10% over the previous year. Approximately 35Mt of ore and 370Kt of
concentrate copper were produced during the same year. Production of zinc metal in
concentrate was 154,000t, an increase of 31% over 2008.
7. Minera Los Pelambres Copper Mine, Chile
The Los Pelambres deposit, located 200km north of Santiago and 45km east of
Salamanca in Choapa Province, was discovered by one of Chilean copper's founding
fathers, William Braden,in the 1920s. Today's project, the world's fifth-largest copper
mine, was started by Antofagasta Holdings in the 1990s.
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