Amec Foster Wheeler received an engineering services contract from Corporacion Nacional del Cobre (Codelco) for a new secondary ore grinding processing facility at the Chuquicamata copper concentrator facility in northern Chile. Codelco is the biggest copper producer in the world by volume.
Modifications to the existing ore milling plant will substantially improve the copper plant efficiency and increase copper recovery in the semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mills section of the Chuquicamata plant by reducing the particle size of the final product.
The value of the contract was not disclosed. Work has begun and should be completed by the third quarter of 2015.
Under the contract, Amec Foster Wheeler will provide engineering services, including design and field engineering support, for the new secondary ore grinding processing area. The new facilities planned include a new ball mill, a hydrocyclones building, pebbles recirculation material handling, a mineral ore pulp transportation system, and a new copper concentrate plant to produce copper-molybdenum concentrate.
