Pampa Camarones, the copper producing company that belonged to South Korea’s Samsung, declared bankruptcy in 2015 and bought by private equity fund Minería Activa, is for sale. This copper deposit located 80 kilometers (km) south of Arica, in the commune of Camarones, is the only copper mine in that region of northern Chile.
In 2011, Samsung formally entered mining in Chile with an investment of US$70 million. The low price of copper in 2015 hit hard, and the company was not willing to continue injecting capital into the mine.
The other shareholders of Pampa Camarones were Pampa Mater. Debts with more than 400 creditors amounted to US$115 million, and with the fall in the price of copper, they took advantage of the recently inaugurated Insolvency Law.
Last year, it produced 8,400 tons of copper cathode at a cash cost of US$1.5 per pound. In gross numbers, last year, the company sold more than $70 million, with an EBITA of $40 million.
