Peru's Buenaventura plans improvements to Julcani silver mine

Peruvian precious metals miner Buenaventura is preparing investments and modifications for its Julcani silver mine in Huancavelica region. 

The company expects to invest more than US$3mn to increase the capacity of the tailings deposit and improve the concentrator. Buenaventura said it will also begin selling minerals from the mine to third parties, according to a document sent to environmental certifier Senace. 

Buenaventura submitted a fifth technical support report (ITS) for Julcani, which companies – mainly in the extractive industries – submit when they want to make modifications to the infrastructure where they currently have a concession and the changes do not represent a significant impact at an environmental or social level.

The report was prepared by consulting firm AtkinsRéalis Peru and can be downloaded from the Documents box in the top-right corner of the screen.

The proposed work at the tailings dam will take 17 months, while the work at the concentrator will take six months, the report states.

Julcani is an underground operation located at an altitude of 4,200m and is one of Buenaventura’s oldest mines, dating from 1953. In 2023, the mine produced 1.67Moz of silver and 828,741oz in the first six months of this year. Guidance for 2024 is 1.7-1.9Moz silver and 2,800-3,200oz gold.

MODIFICATIONS

According to the ITS, Buenaventura needs to increase the height of the tailings dam wall by 2m, which will give it storage capacity of 2.64Mm3. According to the company, the continuity of tailings disposal can be ensured without the need for additional construction and the modification will not involve the expansion of the processing plants.

The miner says the cost of the work will be US$1.21mn. 

In the case of the optimization of the concentrator, Buenaventura says it requires new equipment to better process the ore. “The proposed modification is a second phase of the optimization … the approximate recovery of silver will be 98.75% (previously 97.81%), and total recovery of gold 90.93% (previously 39.65%),” says the report. The modification will require US$1.96mn for construction.

SALE

Finally, it is proposed that Julcani be allowed to sell up to 12,000t per month of ore.

According to the report, it is expected that the tailings dam will eventually reach maximum capacity so the sale of ore to other companies will be key to keeping the production chain afloat.

“The alternative is to sell mineral to other mining units, thus giving continuity to the underground works and therefore the operation of the mining unit, and also guaranteeing the operation of equipment and keeping Julcani [profitable],” says the report.