BHP (ASX, LON, NYSE: BHP) plans to ramp up work at the ongoing聽$2.5 billion expansion of its Spence copper mine聽in Chile, as measures taken to stop the spread of covid-19 this year set completion of the project back.
The world鈥檚 biggest miner said it will speed up construction at Spence in December, with first production expected in the first half of 2021.
The expansion will add 185,000 tonnes of copper and 4,000 tonnes a year to BHP鈥檚 output in its first decade
Mia Gous, Spence鈥檚 mine general manager, that current efforts are focused on securing the use of renewable energy at the operation. The聽Melbourne, Australia-based giant聽聽it planned to run Spence and Escondida, the world鈥檚 biggest copper mine, entirely on renewable power by 2022.
It is also聽aiming to eliminate the use of water聽from aquifers in Chile by 2030.
Spence鈥檚 expansion contemplates the construction of a concentrator plant to increase production and extend the life of the deposit by about 50 years, as well as a 1,000-litres-per-second seawater treatment facility.
Before the pandemic, the expansion provided聽4,100 temporary jobs and 220 permanent positions.聽Once finished, it will add 185,000 tonnes of copper and 4,000 tonnes a year to BHP鈥檚 output in its first decade.
Spence is BHP鈥檚 second-largest deposit in Chile after Escondida,聽the world鈥檚 biggest copper operation.
Copper hungry
In the last four years, BHP 鈥� already the world鈥檚 second-biggest listed copper miner 鈥� has boosted exploration spending聽to聽聽of the metal, used in construction, renewable energy and electric vehicles.
The company became聽last year the top shareholder聽in Australian miner SolGold (LON:SOLG) (TSX:SOLG), which is developing the Cascabel copper-gold project聽in Ecuador. The asset has the potential to become one of the largest copper-gold assets ever discovered, with an estimated productive mine-life of 55 years.
BHP鈥檚 chief executive, Mike Henry, said in February the company needed more 鈥渇uture-facing鈥� metals, such as copper. A month later, chairman Ken Mackenzie said the miner was in a strong position to make acquisitions if there were opportunities because of coronavirus.
鈥淚鈥檓 not sure if there will be any opportunities that will come from this, but if there are, we are actually in a position to act,鈥澛�Mackenzie said.
Copper聽pushed above $7,000 per tonne this week, the highest since 2013, as a seemingly bottomless Chinese demand continues to drive prices up.
China alone accounts for more than half of the world鈥檚 copper imports. So far this year, it has already imported more copper than it did throughout of聽all of 2019, according to data cited by Bloomberg.