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Lomas Bayas is an open pit copper mine and solvent extraction-electrowinning (SX-EW) plant located in the Atacama desert, 1,500 metres above sea level and approximately 120 kilometres from the port city of Antofagasta, Chile.
The mine has a low strip ratio and short hauling distances and will provide between 25 million and 30 million tonnes of ore per year over most of its life. Current resources should sustain operations at Lomas Bayas for 15 years.
Geology
Lomas Bayas is a low-grade copper porphyry deposit hosted within the San Cristóbal granodiorite that intrudes a Late Cretaceous volcanic arc.
Detailed Geology
Operations
Copper is contained in fast-leaching, low acid-consuming copper sulphate minerals. Higher grade ore is crushed and heap leached while lower grade ore is sent directly from the mine to dump leach operations. Copper is then recovered from solution by solvent extraction and refined into cathodes at the electrowinning plant. The cathodes are trucked to Antofagasta and shipped to world markets.
2004 Production Rates
62,041 tonnes copper cathode
Reserves
- Proven: 41.18 million tonnes grading 0.40% copper
- Probable: 301.52 million tonnes grading 0.33% copper
Resources
- Measured: 5.25 million tonnes grading 0.28% copper
- Indicated: 239.74 million tonnes grading 0.27% copper
- Inferred: 42 million tonnes grading 0.30% copper
Employees
Lomas Bayas employs approximately 460 people.
History
The mine was commissioned in 1998. Falconbridge purchased 100% of the property from Boliden Limited in 2001.
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