Mantos Copper Holding has announced that its subsidiary, Mantoverde SA has secured an $846.6 million financing package to fully fund the development of Mantoverde’s Sulphide Development Project (MVDP) at its existing mining operation located in the Atacama Region of Chile. MVDP is a brownfield copper project in the Atacama region of Chile that involves the building of a copper concentrator and associated facilities to process ore from the sulphide deposit at Mantoverde.
It will expand the current Mantoverde oxide operation that has been profitably producing LME-branded cathodes for the past 25 years. The project will extend the life of Mantoverde to at least 2041 whilst significantly reducing operating costs. Upon completion of the project, Mantoverde will produce an average of 110,000 t of copper and 33,000 oz of gold per year
from 2023 to 2030.
The capital cost of the Project is a highly efficient $783.6 million, due to extensive existing infrastructure — including Mantoverde’s existing, wholly-owned desalination plant that provides all water needs to current and future operations — and the attractive grade of the copper deposit (an average of 0.80% Cu equivalent for the sulphide ore during the first 10
years). Mantoverde is a tier one deposit, with total copper resources of 5.7 Mt of contained copper in a top mining jurisdiction. The MVDP only incorporates a quarter of the known sulphide resources, allowing significant scope for future expansions or extensions of the mine. “Furthermore, Mantoverde is a regular winner of the top safety awards in Chile, and at least 50% of the power for the expanded operation will be sourced from renewable energy. Exciting opportunities exist to recover significant tonnages of cobalt and magnetite from the waste material, with studies already well advanced.”
The financing package includes a 12-year $520 million senior secured amortising project debt facility and a 10-year $51.6 million senior secured closure bonding facility. The debt financing complements $275 million in equity proceeds secured from Mitsubishi Materials Corporation (MMC) taking a 30% interest in Mantoverde, fully funding the development of the Mantoverde sulphide project. MMC has also agreed to provide a $60 million Cost Overrun Facility in exchange for additional offtake of copper concentrate.
Finnvera, Finland’s export credit agency, has issued a raw material guarantee covering $250 million of the Senior Debt, linked to a ten year offtake agreement for 75,000 t/y of copper concentrate with Boliden Commercial AB. “The successful
outcome of a comprehensive legal, financial, commercial, technical and environmental & social due diligence undertaken by the MLAs over the past two years is a strong endorsement of the robust economics and technical fundamentals of the Mantoverde Development Project. All conditions precedent to financial close have been satisfied and Mantoverde has commenced its construction plan. Project construction will be undertaken by way of a lump-sum, turnkey EPC contract with Australian engineering company Ausenco.
“With the financing in place, we have immediately commenced construction of this transformative project for Mantos Copper. The project will expand Mantoverde into a world class copper mine, and bring material benefit to all of its stakeholders, including employees, contractors, suppliers, customers and local communities,” commented John MacKenzie, Executive Chairman of Mantos Copper. “Together with our fully financed Mantos Blancos Concentrator Debottlenecking Project, the construction of which is now 70% complete and which will extend Mantos Blancos’ life to 2035 by increasing and streamlining production from its sulphide deposit that features an average grade of 0.85% in the next ten years, Mantos Copper is well advanced in realising our strategy in becoming a world class sustainable copper
business with total copper production approaching 200,000 t per annum.”