Atlas Copco has won two large orders from mining customers in South and Central America, worth a total $30 million. One is from Minera Panama to deliver drilling equipment and related services for the Cobre Panama open pit copper project. In Venezuela, Atlas Copco has won an order from the gold mining corporation Minerven . Minera Panama, a subsidiary of Canada’s Inmet Mining, is buying a package of a total nine machines including Pit Viper rotary blasthole drill rigs, Flexi-Roc surface drill rigs, related services and simulator training. The order is worth close to $20 million. Most of the equipment will be delivered in 2014 and 2015.

The contract from Minerven in Venezuela is worth around $10 million. It covers underground drill rigs, loading equipment and core drilling rigs, as well as portable and stationary compressors. The equipment will be delivered over the coming year.

“These orders show the importance of having a strong local presence to support our customers,” said Bob Fassl, Business Area President, Atlas Copco Mining and Rock Excavation Technique. “We have recently built up a dedicated organisation in Panama and are very proud to now have been chosen by Minera Panama as supplier of blasthole drilling equipment.”

Minerama Panama’s Cobre Panama mine is being developed in the District of Donoso, Province of Colon, Republic of Panama. The ore is copper, gold, and molybdenum porphyry mineralisation, averaging 0.41% Cu. It will produce some 255,000 t/y of copper in a copper and molybdenum concentrate over a potential mine life of 30+ years.  The infrastructure lies 20 km from tide water.