Field Trip Report

World of Mining Surface & Underground 56 (2004) No. 5

Come to where the copper is Modern ore mining in Chile

Report by ARNE KRISTOFFER BAYER, REIK MICHAEL WINKEL, Germany

A group of Aachen University students and staff of the excavation and mining equipment group (BGMR) visited a number of Chilean mines and equipment suppliers in autumn 2003 within the scope of a eld trip. In this paper two of the largest and most modern open pit copper mines of the leading South American mining nation will be presented: The Chuquicamata mine, run by the state owned Codelco, and the Escondida mine, operated by an international consortium. The main focus is put on the mining and processing operations. Besides, geology and metallurgical processes are described.

Introduction

Within the scope of a eld trip, a group of Aachen University students and staff of the excavation and mining equipment group (BGMR) had the opportunity to travel Chile (Figure 1). The extensive itinerary included several mine site visits on surface and underground (copper and limestone) plus the visitation of branch

In this paper the following two copper mines will be covered in detail: The open pit copper mine of Chuquicamata in the Atacama desert is one of the largest of its kind in the world in terms of mine site area. It is operated by the state owned Codelco Chile (Corporacin Nacional del Cobre). Escondida, operated by an international consortium consisting of BHP Biliton, Rio Tinto and a Japanese investor, produces annually more than one million tons of copper in metal content being the biggest copper mine in the world. Since decades Chile is considered to be one of the world most important mining nations. In 2002 about 4.6 mill t of copper were mined adding up to a third of the total annual world production. Besides more than 30 % of all copper ore reserves are located in the Chilean Andes. Important by-products of the copper mining operations are gold and silver. Additionally Chile is one of the key producers of natural nitrates, iodine, lithium and sulphates. The value of 2001s exports of mining products exceeded 7.5 bn US$ counting for 44 % of the overall Chilean exports [1].

Chuquicamata open pit

The Chuquicamata open pit is located some 250 km north of the coastal city of Antofagasta and 1200 km north of the capital Santiago de Chile at an altitude of 2800 m. For as early as 1910 the mining of copper was commenced by the US American Chile Exploration Mining, later Anaconda Mining. Since 1971 the open pit belongs to Codelco Chile. Today some 6500 workers are employed, who produce around 600,000 t of copper and 14,000 t of molybdenum per annum. Over its entire mine life Chuquicamata has produced so far almost 35 mill t of copper, corresponding with 2.5 times the recent annual world copper consumption.
Fig. 1: Participants of the BGMR eld trip in the village of Chuquicamata

2.1

Geology

ofces of equipment suppliers like Sandvik Tamrock, Atlas Copco and Lanzco. Additionally the group saw two plants producing lithium and borates of the world market leader Soquimich and exchanged scientic experiences with colleagues from the Universidad de Chile in the Chilean capital Santiago de Chile. The general perspective of the Andean country was concluded by numerous cultural sights and the visit of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). DIPL.-ING. ARNE KRISTOFFER BAYER, since July 2004: Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, CC Utilities, Karl-Arnold-Platz 1, 40474 Dsseldorf, Germany Tel. +49 (0) 211-43 89-2157, Fax +49 (0) 211-43 89-2172 e-mail: arne_bayer@de.rolandberger.com DIPL.-ING. REIK MICHAEL WINKEL, Excavation and Mining Equipment Group (BGMR), Aachen University, Research Engineers, Lochnerstr. 4-20, 52064 Aachen, Germany e-mail: winkel@bgmr.rwth-aachen.de 380

A signicant feature of the copper porphyry complex of Chuquicamata is the deep supergeneous mineral enrichment, which could be proven to a depth of 1000 m. The ore reserves are estimated at some 13 bn t with an average copper content of 0.8 %. Mina Sur is located south of the ore body and in the north the Radomiro Tomic open pit commenced mining three years ago (Figure 2), combined the three mines form the Codelco Chiles Division Norte. The sulphide ore is oxidised to a depth of between 100 and 200 m below ground level. Since the introduction of the hydrometallurgical Solvent Extraction/Electro winning method (SX-EW) these ore type can be utilized at low specic costs. The treatment of Run of Mine (ROM) ore with copper contents as low as 0.3 % is still economical feasible. The Chuquicamata open pit is situated on the eastern side of the mineralization and fault system extending for 14 km. West of this system almost no mineralization is encountered. To mine the ore the open pit has to push deeper handling an increasing amount of waste rock material. The geomechanical properties of the unstable waste rock just allow for a slope angle of 30 to 32 whereas on the ore side of the pit angles of 42 result in stable

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Field Trip Report

Fig. 2: View on the Chuquicamata mine in northern direction. Centre: Waste dump; Centre top: open pit Chuquicamata and in the background the open pit Radomiro Tomic; Centre right: smelter; bottom left: the village of Chuquicamata; bottom right: Mina Sur (Southern pit)

slopes. Because of these conditions an ore to waste ratio of about 1:2 is encountered at Chuquicamata.

2.2

Mining operation

Depending on the copper content the ore is mined selectively and treated in separate processing lines. The current cut off grade for sulphide ores, which are otated, is set at 0.6 % copper content. Per annum 60 mill t of ore averaging 1 % copper are processed and additional 10 mill t with 0.6 % Cu are mined and stockpiled. Starting from 2015 this material will be blended with the ROM, as at that point of time the average copper content will decrease to about 0.5 %. Some 10 mill t of oxide ore (0.2 to 0.5 % Cu) are mined annually and heap leached. With annually 150 mill t, waste rock makes up most of the material being moved in the Chuquicamata copper operation. The blasting takes place on a daily basis at 5 pm. Ingersoll Rand drill rigs create the 20 m, 310 mm holes in a 6.5 m x 13 grid. To stabilize the nal pit slopes smaller holes ( 165 mm) are drilled at the perimeter of the pit. Per day 400 t of ANFO explosives (Ammonium Nitrate and Fuel Oil) are used, where encountering water bearing strata emulsion is used instead. Over the last years the bench height has been standardized to 18 m. The blasted material is loaded with P&H rope shovels having volumes of 26, 43 respectively 55 m. Auxiliary tasks are performed by Komatsu dozers. For transportation purposes Liebherr T 282 B trucks with a payload of 360 t, as well as Caterpillar 793 are used (Figure 3). Until 2000 the waste rock has been transported via an in pit crusher on a belt conveyor installed by Rheinbraun Engineering. The advance of the open pit and layout changes were the reasons to stop the system. To reduce transport costs a new conveyor system running through a tunnel will be installed in 2005. Since lately the short term mine planning is supported by a dispatching system as used in the neighbouring Radomiro Tomic pit already from the rst ton of ore mined in 2000. The long term planning at Chuquicamata is scheduled until 2025.

Fig. 3:

P&H 4000 rope shovel, CAT 793 truck, Komatsu dozer

overall recovery of the processing plant amounts 87 % at 1 % copper in the ROM ore compared to 60 % for the molybdenum at 0.04 % Mo. The copper concentrate averages 30 % Cu, 2 % Zn and 0.6 % As. Especially the arsenic content is the reason for not exporting the copper concentrate but to treat pyrometallurgically already on site. Despite recent successes in ltering technology the management decided to resettle the village of Chuquicamata to Calama some 20 km away due to the high arsenic contamination of the atmosphere and the ground water. Current R&D activities of the Codelco Division Norte are aiming at introducing the more environmentally friendly bio-leaching; a pilot plant utilizing bacteria to dissolve the copper has been installed. The oxide ore is processed to cathode copper via heap leaching and electrolysis. By this means the huge amounts of sulphuric acid resulting from the ue gas desulphurization in the smelter unit can be utilised.

2.3

Processing and Rening

2.4

Economics

In the rst stage of the milling process the sulphide ROM ore is fed into autogenous mills and in a second stage into semi autogenous ball mills to obtain the nal grain size of 100 m. The

The protability of the mining operation is declining, as the mining operation is getting deeper and consequently the ore to waste ratio is deteriorating. The operative cash costs in 2002 were reported 381

Field Trip Report

at 39.6 US cent per pound of copper. A cost reduction of one US cent/lb equals a mine life extension of 1.6 years. Therefore optimisations of the mining operations are crucial for the management like the evaluation of alternative ways to extract the copper ore. In the future an underground operation is thought to be economical and initial projects are looking at possible mine designs. The panel caving with pre-undercutting mining method as applied at Codelcos El Teniente copper mine is considered as the method of choice. Codelco Chile generated in 2002 a turnover of 3.49 bn US$ generating a prot of 369 mill US$. 326 mill US$ were transferred to the Chilean state. The mid term strategy of the copper giant is to double the company value. Massive cost reductions in current operations and an intensive investment and modernisation program, as well as several green eld projects should manifest Codelco Chiles position as one of the lowest cost copper producer in the world.

World of Mining Surface & Underground 56 (2004) No. 5

nite. Certain areas of the reserve are covered by copper oxides. 2002 the proven reserves of sulphide ore were some 702 mill t averaging 1.45 % of copper and resources of 843 million t (1.02 % Cu). Additionally about 143 million t of oxide ores with an average copper content of 0.77 % are proven. The remaining life time of the Escondida open pit at the current extraction rate is estimated to 40 years.

3.2

Mining operation

Escondida open pit

The copper ore both sulphides and oxides is mined using conventional drill and blast technology. The current ore to waste ratio amounts to 1.7:1 and is expected to stay in that range throughout the entire mine life. At the moment the open pit has a diameter of 2500 m and the deepest level is situated at 800 m below surface. Table 1 lists up Escondidas current equipment eet.
Tab. 1: Drill rigs Technical data of Econdidas mining equipment 8 B-E 49 R respectively 49 R III (electro driven) 2 P&H 250 XP (electro driven) 1 Ingersoll Rand DMM2 (diesel driven) 9 rope shovels B-E 495 (38, 40 and 42 m) 2 rope shovels P&H 4100 XPB (56 m) 24 CAT 793B, 28 Komatsu 830-E and 23 CAT 793C 218 t; 13 CAT 797 340 t 3 LHD CAT 980 (17,5 m), Dozer, Grader, water trucks

The Escondida copper mine is located some 160 km east of the coastal town of Antofagasta at an altitude of 3050 m above sea level. The mine is operated since the early 1990s by an international consortium consisting of BHP Billiton (57.5 %), Rio Tinto (30 %), a Japanese investor (10 %) and the International Finance Corporation (2.5 %). Since the rst shovel mined the daily production has been increased continuously. These days the 2300 workers and 1900 contractors mine every day on average some 960,000 t ROM ore and waste rock. Whereas in 1991 the annual copper production was 260,000 t in 2003 the million ton per year line was broken. After nishing the Phase IV extension last year the maximum installed capacity of Escondida amounts to 1.25 mill t of copper in concentrates and cathodes. Mina Escondida alone produces some 7 to 8 % of the annual world copper production. The total investment since 1981 sums up to 3.8 billion US$. The mine impresses visitors with cutting edge mining equipment and methods: Apart from the technical point of view the AngloAmerican management installed a modern organisation and the whole mine site presents itself as up to date and very tidy in comparison to other South American operations (Fig. 4).

Excavators Trucks Auxiliary equipment

3.1

Geology

Three different porphyries form the mineralization of the Escondida mine. Primary sulphide minerals are pyrite, chalcopyrite and bor-

Because of the absence of ground water comparably cheap ANFO explosives can be used to break the material. Electronical detonators have to be applied, as atmospheric disturbances are quite common in the arid climate of the Atacama Desert. The design of the drilling pattern is determined by the principle mine to mill, the blasted material should be characterised by a grain size distribution that minimizes the amount of energy in the crushing und milling process. The ROM ore is crushed in-pit and transported via belt conveyors to the processing plant. All trucks and moving vehicles in the pit, as well as all transportation and logistics are coordinated by a dispatching system manufactured by Wenco International Mining Systems, whereas quality control, maintenance and repair activities are realised using Mincoms pit information system.

Fig. 4: Aerial view of the Escondida open pit

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Field Trip Report

3.3

Processing and Rening

Depending on the ore type two different ways in processing the copper ore are encountered in the Escondida open pit. The oxide ores are heap leached and the sulphuric acid dissolves the copper. In the so called Planta de xido copper cathodes are produced using the hydrometallurgical SX/EW-process. During the solvent extraction stage the copper bearing solution is cleaned and enriched. The pregnant solution contains on average 40 g/l of copper and 0.18 g/l of arsenic. The last stage is the electrolysis. The sulphide ore is processed by means of otation to copper concentrate containing about 36 % copper. This process has a recovery rate of 85 %. The daily throughput of the processing plant is a maximum of 230,000 t/d. The grain size of the ore after passing the autogenous (Figure 5) and semi autogenous ball mills is less than 100 m. The otation process in the rougher and cleaner stages is taking place in Wemco column cells with a volume of 194 m. The nes are deposited in waste ponds and the water is being recovered to be reused in the process. To minimize the evaporation of the resource water, sun reecting, hexagonal dipyramidal plastic balls are covering the surface of the ponds.

Fig. 6:

Port facilities at Coloso

3.6

Contribution to the Community

Fig. 5:

Processing of sulphide copper ore (Autogenous mills)

3.4

Transport and Logistics

The copper concentrate is transported from the Escondida mine to the port facilities in Coloso via a 170 km pipeline ( 9 inch, HDPE liner). The rst 9 km the slurry has to be pumped, afterwards the mix ows by gravity towards the Pacic Ocean (2 m/s). Disk lters reduce the water content to about 9 %. The embarkation is done using a special conveyor construction (Figure 6) enabling the loading of 45,000 t vessels with 1200 t/h. The residual water is cleaned from heavy metal contamination and then charged into the Pacic. The main consumers of the copper concentrate are Japanese smelters (28 %) and the German Norddeutsche Afnerie (NA) in Hamburg (11 %).

The activities of the mining company are not singularly focussed on the production of copper but Minera Escondida strongly emphasizes its responsibility for the community and the environment. It committed itself to invest some 1 % of the annul earnings before tax in community projects in the vicinity. For example schools in the city of Antofagasta are sponsored and research contracts are signed with local universities. Additionally the inhabitants of the settlement of Coloso are provided with electricity and infrastructure. In the recent ve years, the social contributions added to some 21 mill US$. Acknowledgement The realisation of the technical excursion would not have been possible without the nancial support of numerous sponsors from industry and organisations. Standing for all, the foundation Prof. Dr. Berg.-Ing. H. Goergen und Frau Elisabeth-Stiftung, Aachen, and the German academic exchange service (DAAD), Bonn, should be named in this context. Many thanks as well to Lanzco, Santiago de Chile, for the assistance organizing the eld trip.

3.5

Economics

The difcult situation of the world copper market in 2002 forced Minera Escondida to reduce the production gures by some 144,000 t. The world marked price in this period was at 70.3 US cent per pound. The turnover generated in 2002 accounted to 933 mill US$ generating a prot of 143.6 mill US$. The cash cost on an operational base were reported at 53.2 US cent, the cash costs after interest amounted to 59.6 US cent per pound of copper.

References
[1] [2] V ELASCO , P., The Minerals Industry of Chile 2001, US Geological Survey, http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals Interviews with staff members and brochure material, Codelco Chile (www.codelco.cl) and Minera Escondida (www.escondida.cl)

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