Peruvian miners submit revised plans to regulator

MINERA CORONA 

Minera Corona, a Peruvian subsidiary of Canada’s Sierra Metals, is preparing modifications involving US$31mn for its Yauricocha mining unit, an underground polymetallic deposit in Lima region.

The company plans to make five modifications, including the optimization of the ventilation system, setting up 23 drilling platforms and improvements to the electrical supply.

That was stated by the company in a sixth sustaining technical report (ITS) sent to environmental review agency Senace. The report indicates that the work will take around two years, finishing in 2027.

The ITS was prepared by environmental consulting firm Yaku and can be downloaded in the Documents box in the upper-right corner of the screen. According to the document, the investment for the five proposed modifications is as follows:

Proposed modification	Investment (US$ million)
Optimization of the Underground Mine Ventilation System	7.58
Implementation of Quarries, and Use of Material from the Chumpe Waste Disposal	2.47
Optimization of the Chumpe Electrical Supply Network	3.17
Optimization of the Chumpe Beneficiation Plant and Tailings Pumping System	3.81
Implementation of 23 Exploration Platforms	14.4
Total	31.4

Source: Sociedad Minera Corona

According to the company, the modifications will not have significant environmental impacts and everything proposed is within the area of social and environmental influence of the mine.

In 2023, Yauricocha produced 14.5Mlb (6,598t) of copper, 43.6Mlb of zinc, 1.16Moz of silver, 3,024oz of gold and 13.3Mlb of lead, according to Sierra Metals.

The company says the mine has proven reserves for at least five years. According to its latest results presentation, Yauricocha has 6.4Mt in proven reserves and a total of 10.4Mt in measured and indicated resources.

SOUTHERN COPPER  

Southern Copper, a Grupo México company with operations in Peru, plans to start construction of the US$1.4bn Tía María project in Arequipa region in 2025.

The company presented an ITS to Senace requesting the evaluation of modifications to the project involving US$4.15mn, in line with what was announced by executives previously. Tía María is moving forward after more than a decade of failed attempts (2011, 2015 and 2019) and is designed to produce 120,000t/y copper.

The report was prepared by consulting firm Geostudios Ambientales and can be downloaded in the Documents box. There are four proposed modifications:

• Camp expansion and flagpole construction
• Modification of the Tía María electrical substation
• Modification of the layout of the mine access road and complementary accesses
• Relocation of the waste deposit, dynamic pile and auxiliary components

According to Southern Copper, all the modifications will begin during the Tía María operational stage – estimated for the first half of 2027 – and will take a maximum of 27 months to complete. A total of 498 workers will be required.