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Enami updates progress on copper smelter's modernization

Bnamericas
Enami updates progress on copper smelter's modernization

Five years of engineering studies and more than US$10mn in investments have been necessary to advance the project to modernize Chilean national mining company Enami’s Hernán Videla Lira copper smelter. 

Located in Paipote, in northern Atacama region, the smelter has been a strategic pillar for the development of small and medium mining in Chile.

“The project has completed the feasibility engineering, and the engineering of the electrolytic refinery is being incorporated, background information that will make it possible to more accurately estimate the insertional and operational costs and the economic indicators that account for the viability of the project, which is expected to be implemented in 2026,” said Enami CEO Jaime Pérez de Arce at a breakfast organized by the Association of Industrial Mining Suppliers, according to a statement.

Meanwhile, the company is preparing environmental documents and expects to submit an environmental impact assessment in December, he added.

The modernization aims to reach the first quartile of costs in the industry at close to US$0.10/t, implement new facilities and double the current processing capacity. With this, it is expected to develop a more profitable and environmentally respectful operation. The project also considers the creation of a school to train human, scientific and technological capital.

Chile currently has seven copper smelters, five of which are state-owned, namely Chuquicamata, Caletones, Potrerillos and Ventanas, which belong to Codelco, and Hernán Videla. Glencore and Anglo American operate the Altonorte and Chagres smelters, respectively.

Chile needs to strengthen its copper smelting capacity to contribute to the fight against climate change, said mining undersecretary Willy Kracht in an opinion column published by local outlet Cooperativa.

Although mining companies in Chile have made progress in incorporating technologies to reduce their environmental impacts, efforts are still not sufficient to ensure low-emission copper production, he wrote. More than 50% of the copper produced in Chile is exported as concentrate. Of the 5.6Mt produced in 2021, 3Mt were exported as concentrate to be smelted abroad.

In this scenario, the low emissions seal for Chilean copper is subject to the decarbonization measures adopted by the countries that smelt and refine Chilean copper, Kracht said.

This year has been marked by the decision to close the Ventanas smelter, located in Valparaíso region, due to environmental contamination. One of the challenges of the closure is to modify a law that obliges Codelco to smelt in the plant the output of small and medium mining companies that supply ore to Enami.

On Wednesday, the lower house mining and energy committee approved the bill that allows the production of Enami's small and medium-sized miners to be treated in Codelco facilities other than Ventanas.

Hernán Videla Lira smelter, also known as Paipote, was the first state-owned smelter in the country and opened in 1952. It has a nominal processing capacity of 340,000t/y.

In picture: 3D image of Paipote smelter. CREDIT: Enami

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