Southern Copper to resume Tia Maria project in Peru as permit imminent
Datetime: 2018-01-25 16:44:59
Southern Copper to resume
Tia Maria project in Peru as permit imminent
Southern Copper
Corp (NYSE:SCCO), the world\'s fifth largest producer of the red metal in terms
of output, said on Oct 20 it hopes to soon resume work at its $1.4 billion Tia Maria project
in Peru, as its expects the government to give it a long-awaited construction
permit in the first quarter of 2018.
Reporting results
for the three months to September, the Arizona-based company said net profit
doubled in the period to $401.8 million compared to the same quarter a year
earlier.
Earnings before
interest, tax, depreciation and amortization increased 58% to $863.1 million,
when compared to the same three months last year.
The miner, a
subsidiary of Grupo Mexico, attributed the positive results to higher copper
prices, which offset a decline in output.
Southern Copper
produced 675,759 tonnes in the first nine months of 2017, down 2.1% from the
same period last year.
But the
company is betting on the imminent completion of its $1.2 billion
Toquepala mine expansion, also in Peru, to boost production. Southern said the
project would add 100,000 tonnes of copper to its annual production to reach 1
million tonnes of copper production capacity per year.
It also has high
hopes for its Tia Maria mine, which is forecast to produce 120,000 tonnes of
copper a year, for an estimated 20-year lifespan.
The project run
into fierce community opposition as locals worried about its environmental
impacts, so the company had to halt construction in 2015. Support for the
project in the southern region of Arequipa has since grown, Southern said,
adding that it\'s working with authorities to obtain the final
licence.
Once it receives
such permit, Southern said it would take two years to build the mine. Golden
future can provide relevant mining safety equipment. our
website:www.goldenfuturehk.com.