Freeport to decide on El Abra copper project-paper
Mon Nov 24, 2008 8:32am EST
reuters.com
SANTIAGO, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (FCX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), a global miner that is cutting costs after metals prices plunged, may decide this week whether to go ahead with a project to extend the life of the El Abra copper mine in Chile, the Diario Financiero reported Monday.
The $450 million so-called Sulfolix project would extend the mine life at El Abra by 10 years by mining sulfides after oxides run out in 2010.
Freeport, however, is cutting costs and is reviewing the viability of projects as expectations deepen that a global economic crisis will keep commodity prices low.
"The Sulfolix project is one of the projects under review," Miguel Munizaga, Freeport's vice president of operations in Chile, told the newspaper.
The company could not be reached for immediate comment and Chile state miner Codelco, which owns 49 percent of the venture, directed queries to the mine administrator Freeport.
The El Abra mine, 51 percent owned by Freeport, produced 166,000 tonnes of copper in 2007.
The mine, in Chile's rich northern mining district, has 600 million tonnes of copper-rich mineral in reserves.
Freeport operates mines in the United States, Indonesia, Peru and Chile. (Reporting by Pav Jordan; Editing by John Picinich) |
