FQM Announces Argentina Taca Taca Copper/Moly/Gold Mine Reserves

First Quantum Minerals Ltd (FQM) of Canada announced the reserves of its Taca Taca copper/moly/gold mine project in Salta Province, Argentina. FQM is a global copper company. It produces copper in the form of concentrate, cathode, and anode, and has inventories of nickel, gold and cobalt. The company operates long-life mines in several countries and employs approximately 20,000 people worldwide.

The Taca Taca copper, molybdenum, and gold project located in the Puna region of Salta Province, in the northwest of Argentina is one of the largest mining projects to ever be developed in the country. The Technical Report recently filed outlines the detail behind the open-pit mine design and plan which contemplates processing throughput of up to 60 Mt/y through a conventional flotation circuit with a mine life of approximately 32 years.

A decision to proceed with the construction of Taca Taca copper/moly/gold mine is not expected until sometime in 2023 or 2024. FQM says it remains focused on deleveraging its balance sheet over this period. Work will continue to advance the project and to further refine and optimize the plan while obtaining the required approvals and permits and suitable assurances with respect to the Argentinian fiscal regime in advance of a formal construction decision.

First Quantum also intends to evaluate sources of energy for the project which are more environmentally friendly, including potentially 100% renewables or a combination of renewables and natural gas, and to optimize the energy intensity of the project.

The recovered copper reaches a peak of approximately 275,000 t within the first ten years of operations. The design is based on the process plants which the company has successfully constructed and operated at its Sentinel and Cobre Panama operations.

Open-pit mining would proceed in phases from an initial starter pit, supplying pre-strip development waste for site infrastructure and construction, and ore onto stockpile for process plant commissioning.

At present, the proven and probable ore reserves of Taca Taca copper/moly/gold mine project in Argentina are 1.75 billion tons, with a copper grade of 0.44%, that is, 7.7 million tons of copper metal, 213,500 tons of molybdenum, and 5.08 million ounces of gold. The results show that the project can mine 60 million tons of ore annually, can choose the conventional flotation process, and the mine life is 32 years. In the first 10 years after commissioning, the maximum annual output of mine copper is 275,000 tons.