Gold Fields Ltd has started production at its Salares Norte mine in Chile’s Atacama province with the pouring of its first gold-silver doré on 28 March 2024. This represents a significant milestone for Gold Fields, which has taken the project from discovery, through exploration and development to production over the past 13 years.

Says Gold Fields CEO Mike Fraser: “Salares Norte’s construction is credit to the innovation, experience, commitment, and persistence of the teams that worked on the project. To build a remote mine at 4,500 m above sea level with winter temperatures as low as -20 degrees Celsius and amidst a global pandemic is an incredible feat. This is a world-class project with one of the industry’s lower cost profiles and a payback period of less than three years at current gold prices. It presents significant growth and value uplift for our portfolio and adds meaningfully to the cash flow profile of Gold Fields over the next few years.”

Circuit A and Circuit B of the processing plant have now been commissioned and have been handed over to the operational team. Ramp up of the mine to steady state is progressing with gold equivalent production of 250,000 oz at an all-in cost (AIC) of US$1,790/eq oz – with US$1,850/eq oz expected for 2024. Production volumes for 2025 are expected to be 580,000 oz. Average gold equivalent production for the first five years of the mine life (2025-2029) is expected to be 485,000 oz per annum at an AIC of US$790/eq oz (in 2024 money) while gold equivalent ounces produced over the life of mine (2025-2033) is expected to be 360,000 oz per annum at an AIC of US$820/eq oz (in 2024 money).

The total capital cost of the project is expected to be in in line with guidance of US$1.18 billion to US$1.20 billion, of which US$395 million was spent during 2023. The project costs the miner says have increased due to the delay in the start-up as well as an increase in the number of contractors on site and higher contractor rates.

Mining continued as planned throughout the course of 2023 and Q1 2024, with a cumulative 87.2 Mt of waste moved by the end of December 2024 and 2.3 Mt containing 520,000 oz gold-equivalent on stockpile.

The mine has a significant and positive economic and social impact in the Atacama region and Chile in general. Salares Norte will increase Chile’s gold production by 40% and position it as one of the main producers of the metal in South America. It is the first greenfield project in the country in over a decade, will create approximately 900 permanent jobs and contribute approximately US$800 million in direct and indirect taxes over its current 11- year life-of-mine. Over 26% of the mine’s employees are women, which is double the average of the Chilean mining industry.

In line with Gold Fields’ policy, Salares Norte has sought to employ local community members and favour local businesses in the supply of goods and services to the mine. It has established working relationships with 175 suppliers from the Atacama region.

While the nearest town to the project, Diego de Almagro, is 180 km away, the team has also engaged with the host community from the beginning of construction, establishing more than 30 co-operation agreements with indigenous communities, 17 agreements with educational institutions, and training over 600 students through its mining training programmes.

In terms of innovation and environmental care, Salares Norte has incorporated critical new technologies, including:

• Filtered tailings technology, which allows optimising water use by recirculating over 86% of the resource. This is also a safer technology as it replaces a conventional tailings storage facility
• A state-of-the-art photovoltaic solar plant being planned, that is expected to cut its annual carbon footprint by over 10,000 tons of CO2
• Best-of-class telecommunications facilities, via a Starlink satellite internet system, which enables, amongst others, oversight over the working of the mine via a remote-control centre in the company’s Santiago office.

Gold Fields is also investing approximately US$30 million a year in exploration near the mine with the objective of extending the life of Salares Norte mine. The mine has received the permit to recommence with the capture and relocation of chinchillas from future mining areas at Salares Norte. The programme, which is carried out and supervised by independent environmental experts, started in February with the monitoring of the animals.

Fluor is responsible for the engineering, procurement and construction management of the project. “Salares Norte is a project at the forefront of innovation, technology and environmental care,” said Harish Jammula, President of Fluor’s Mining & Metals business line. “The location is extremely challenging and demanded an extraordinary level of modularisation never seen before on a project developed in the Andes region. Integrated processes and remote monitoring were leveraged to facilitate real-time support systems and maximise operational efficiencies.”

He adds: “The operation also plans to implement solar energy usage in subsequent investment phases, which will reduce carbon emissions by more than 100,000 tons over the life of the mine. We are proud to support Gold Fields in their objectives to mine smarter, faster and more efficiently.”