A Peruvian newspaper, Gestión, reported that Minera Yanacocha is planning an investment of around $2.25 billion to expand operations and buy equipment for the Yanacocha mine, in Cajamarca, Peru, starting this year.
The company submitted a second amendment to the Environmental Impact Study (EIA), intended to expand or modify the main components in the Yanacocha mine, including the construction of auxiliary facilities to support the construction and operation stages. The proposal will allow the company to maintain profitable production of gold, copper and silver ore. The company now expects to operate Yanacocha until 2040 with a seven-year closing stage.
The expansion project will increase oxide ore extraction from the Chaquicocha pit. It also aims to improve operational efficiency through a tailings mixing process. With this modification, the company also considers a new budget, which reaches a value of $7.21 billion in all its stages (construction, operation, pre-closing and closing).
Yanacocha proposes the expansion in the Chaquicocha pit (stage 3), which has gold reserves in oxides. Stage 3 was approved to operate until 2027. It is currently under construction and operation. It is expected that this expansion will be in synergy with the current operation from 2020, and that from 2021 to 2027 will enter the exploitation stage.
The modification of the design of the underground galleries (underground Chaquicocha) is also proposed, in order to reduce mining sectors, and the redesign of some sectors will optimize mining activities. The construction of these support facilities will take place between 2021 and 2022. The operation of the underground galleries will go from 2020 to 2040.
Another modification includes the dirt deposit area (Carachugo landfill), where construction activities will begin in 2020 and will continue until 2040. It is also proposed to enable a new clearing tank. Construction will begin in 2022, and the operation will take place between 2023 and 2027. It is also considered a modification of the La Quinua process plant, as well as a modification of the Grinding Sands deposit (North and South phases). The construction of a new tailings deposit called La Quinua is also planned, among other components (auxiliary facilities).
