Chile's Copec to buy stake in Mina Justa copper project

Peruvian tin miner Minsur said it agreed to sell a 40% stake in its Mina Justa copper venture to Chile's Copec, a move that aims to speed up construction of the US$1.6bn, 100,000t/y project.

Copec's Alxar unit will pay about US$200mn for the stake in Minsur subsidiary Cumbres Andinas, which in turn controls Marcobre, which owns the project, Lima-based Minsur said in a statement. Marcobre expects to raise debt financing from international banks before starting construction in the second half on the project, Minsur said.

The company said it is currently working on the final budget and design and preparing to award supply contracts for the project in Ica region's Nazca province, which has resources of 432Mt grading 0.75% copper. Exploration work is also still ongoing on the 60,000ha concession, Minsur said.

The companies seek to raise about US$800-900mn in debt financing for the project, energy and forestry group Copec said in a separate statement.

"This JV will be the cornerstone of our presence in copper mining in South America," Alxar general manager Erwin Kaufmann said in the statement. "It provides us with the possibility of developing a platform for future projects in Chile and Peru."

Minsur, which has operations in Peru and Brazil, has been working on detailed engineering for Mina Justa, where it expects to spend US$100mn this year through July and another US$200-250mn after the financing decision, CEO Juan Luis Kruger said in March. Construction will last through 2019, with commissioning to start at the end of 2019 and operations ramping up through 2020, according to Kruger.

Minsur is controlled by the Brescia group, which has forged closer links with Chile in recent years through the takeover of assets such as the Lafarge Chile cement plant in 2009.