Newmont Mining (TSX: NGT; NYSE: NEM) and Teck Resources (TSX: TCK.B; NYSE:TCK) are injecting new life into their NuevaUni??n 50-50 joint venture in Chile by investing US$152 million into the project, located in the northern Atacama region.
In an evaluation request filed with Chile's environmental evaluation service SEA this week, the companies said they plan to conduct two drilling campaigns this year at the La Fortuna copper-gold deposit, to reduce geological uncertainty.
The first drilling campaign will go on for about 15 months and is expected to provide geological information for the characterization of the deposit's deep levels.
The second campaign, estimated to last 49 months, should allow the companies to lay the foundations for the development of a mining plan focused on La Fortuna's deep levels, the document says.
NuevaUni??n (meaning new union), symbolizes the merger of two projects the companies had in the region, Relincho and la Fortuna, which are 40 km apart.
The joint venture is expected to provide Newmont and Teck with a number of key benefits, including reduced environmental footprint, an optimized mine plan, enhanced community benefits and greater returns over either standalone project.
Overall, the new mine will mean lower costs and improved capital efficiency. Before joining Relincho and La Fortuna, the estimated costs for each project were US$3.9 billion and US$4.5 billion, respectively.
With total capex of US$7.2 billion for NuevaUni??n's three phases and an estimated lifespan of 38 years, the mine is expected to have an annual production of 224,000 tonnes copper, 269,000 oz. gold and 1,700 tonnes molybdenum, according to a prefeasibility study from early 2018.
Completion of NuevaUni??n's feasibility study, commenced in the third quarter of 2018, is expected before the end of March.
Earlier this week, Metalla Royalty & Streaming (TSXV: MTA) acquired a 2% royalty on future gold production from a portion of the La Fortuna deposit and prospective exploration grounds on the NuevaUni??n project, said to be one of the world's largest undeveloped copper-gold-molybdenum proposed mines.
- This article first appeared in our sister publication, MINING.com.