Sierra Gorda, the mining company that recorded the largest losses in Chile during 2016, reportedly said it would not “throw in the towel” and will introduce a $2 billion plan to improve the project and its operation. The firm–owned by Polish state-owned KGHM (55%) and Japan’s Sumitomo (45%)–submitted to the Environmental Impact Assessment Service (SEIA) a project to increase the capacity of the concentrating plant from 190,000 metric tons per day (mt/d) to a total of 230,000 mt/d. The project is expected to start by July 2018.
The goal is to improve the tailings operation and optimize the performance of the entire Sierra Gorda operation in accordance with the environmental items that have been approved. The initiative also foresees the shipment of additional copper and molybdenum from the northern port of Mejillones.
