Chile s Codelco seeks license to expand $2.5 billion Ministro Hales mine

Foreign media on August 1: Chile's state-owned copper company (Codelco), the world's largest copper producer, submitted an environmental permit application on Tuesday, planning to invest 2.5 billion U.S. dollars to extend the Ministro Hales mine. service life. The project plans to increase the copper concentrate production capacity of the Ministro Hales mine to 830,000 tonnes per annum from the current 700,000 tonnes per annum and increase the mineral processing rate from 57,000 tonnes per day to 65,000 tonnes per day. After the completion of the project, the mine will extend its operation for 30 years. Ministro Hales, located in the northern city of Calama, produced 152,000 tonnes of copper in 2022.