MMG on track for Las Bambas copper output in early 2016

A consortium led by MMG is on schedule to start production at its US$7bn Las Bambas copper-molybdenum project in Peru by early next year, local investment bank Credicorp Capital reported.

MMG, a unit of China Minmetals which acquired the project from Glencore last year, said the mine is 90% finished, according to Credicorp analyst Héctor Collantes who cited a conference call given by MMG CEO Andrew Michelmore.

"Our focus is now on construction of the primary concentrator, logistics of production and other key infrastructure," Credicorp quoted Michelmore as saying on the call.

The 140,000t/d capacity mine in Peru's Apurímac region, designed to produce 450,000t/y copper and 5,000t/y molybdenum, has begun pre-stripping work at the Ferrobamba pit, shifting 7.2Mt of earth in the first quarter, and has nearly finished relocating local residents to the new town of Nueva Fuerabamba, the brokerage said.

MMG, expected to invest up to US$2.4bn in the project this year, is working on a road and rail system to transport concentrates from the mine to the southern coastal port of Matarani.

Las Bambas is the largest project in Peru's US$62bn mining investment portfolio over the next decade, according to the energy and mines ministry (MEM). The government is counting on Las Bambas, Chinalco's US$3.5bn Toromocho operation, Hudbay Minerals' US$1.4bn Constancia deposit and Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold's US$4.6bn expansion of its Cerro Verde mine to double the country's copper output to 2.8Mt/y by 2017.