Chilean miner looking to spend US$340mn to expand ops at Los Colorados

Chilean miner Compañía Minera del Pacífico (CMP) wants to increase production of iron ore and extend the useful life of its Los Colorados deposit until 2033.

The company plans to do this with a US$343mn project that would be launched in early 2026 at the site in the Atacama region in northern Chile.

The firm, which is the country's top producer of ferrous minerals and pellets and belongs to conglomerate CAP, aims to increase throughput to 95Mt/y (million tons per year) from around 84Mt/y, raise the processing capacity of its plants to 14.5Mt/y from 14.3Mt/y, and raise production capacity of iron preconcentrate to 9.8Mt/y.

The environmental impact study for the project, submitted to environmental evaluation service SEA on Tuesday, also describes changes to the pit structure, as well as various adjustments to existing facilities.

The initiative involves amending the current Los Colorados mining plan that was approved in 2021 by the SEA.

The main changes include expanding or adapting the waste rock dumps, ore storage areas and the preconcentrate pile, relocating the temporary stockpiles of preconcentrate and making operational changes to the processing plants, among other works.

Of Los Colorados' current throughput of 84Mt/y, 10.4Mt corresponds to iron ore, which allows it to supply iron preconcentrate and sinter feed to the pellet plant owned by CMP in Atacama region.

Aside from controller CAP, CMP's shareholders include the local subsidiary of Japan's Mitsubishi Corp, MC Inversiones, which holds a 25% interest in the company.