Ceibo, a clean copper extraction technology company, and Glencore’s Lomas Bayas copper mine, have entered into a partnership to deploy Ceibo’s proprietary leaching technologies that enable a more effective extraction of copper from low-grade sulphides.
Lomas Bayas has validated Ceibo’s technology and is moving toward scaling up to assess this as an alternative to extend the life of the mining operations. This partnership follows two years of testing by Glencore, an important contributor to Chile’s position as the world’s largest copper producer.
Under the terms of the memorandum of understanding, Ceibo’s technology will scale up with on-site testing through the Lomas Lab, a Glencore world-scale test site, and the company’s research and development branch. This agreement opens a significant commercial avenue for Ceibo, demonstrating its unique approach with a major mining company and affirming the value that Ceibo’s advanced leaching technologies bring to copper assets globally.
Lomas Bayas is known for its focus on innovative and efficient new solutions. Through this partnership, it will be able to further capitalise on copper reserves by increasing and optimising extraction. It also positions Lomas Bayas at the vanguard of sustainable mining by increasing the volume of copper while simultaneously minimising the impact. Lomas Bayas is striving to maximise technologies that allow the production of copper cathodes from sulphide species containing chalcopyrite, with the goal of extending the life of the mine.
Ceibo’s leaching processes extract copper in all sulphides using existing leaching plants. This process more quickly and effectively catalyzes the oxidation in the ore through electrochemical reactions, resulting in higher recovery rates in shorter operational cycles. In recent industrial testing on over 20 chalcopyrite-rich ores, the technology has recovered over 75% of copper, a significant increase compared to traditional leaching. Ceibo’s technologies can be used in many ways, including increasing the output of existing operations, extending the life of a mine, and enabling new brownfield and greenfield projects.
“We are excited to expand our partnership with Ceibo to scale an innovative technology that can transform the copper industry. Ceibo’s ability to produce copper from sulphide-rich ores brings a huge value for assets like Lomas Bayas to sustain production while transitioning from oxides to sulphides,” said Pablo Carvallo, General Manager of Lomas Bayas. “This increase will help us maximise our production to service growing worldwide demand.”
“The copper industry is facing increased demand alongside environmental standards,” said Cristobal Undurraga, Co-Founder and CEO of Ceibo. “We are thrilled to have such an innovative partner in Glencore’s Lomas Bayas, who is at the forefront of adopting new technologies. Together, we are proving that our advanced leaching technologies are allowing the extraction of even more copper from the existing operation while significantly improving sustainability – all while we meet the urgent global need for copper in the clean energy transition.”
Ceibo says its technologies “greatly reduce the implementation time and resource consumption of traditional production methods such as concentrators and smelting, which require many years to build and secure permit approvals and are burdened by an extreme reliance on water and energy.”