Water Shortage at Chile Mine

Anglo American weighs options to ease water shortage at Chile mine

Anglo American Plc is weighing its options to resolve a water shortage at Los Broncescoppermine in central Chile that has hit production, and testing market appetite for two of its copper deposits, a top executive said. An eight-year drought has dried up reservoirs and rivers, sucking into the water table, proving a growing challenge for industry and residents alike. The impact on production from the water shortages at Los Bronces has been factored into Anglo's overall 2015 guidance of 720,000 to 750,000 tonnes copper production, Hennie Faul, the head of Anglo's copper business, told Reuters in an interview during the CESCO/CRU conference in Santiago. "We've been putting mitigation measures in place anticipating that you're going to get some drier years, some wetter years, and certainly this has been the driest that we've seen Chile in decades and we factored that into our budget," said Faul. London-listed Anglo is exploring using industrial water with suppliers or building or syndicating a desalination plant as part of a long-term strategy for Los Bronces, though it has not made an investment decision yet, he said. After an assets review in 2013, Anglo American decided to divest assets that did not meet its return criteria. They included the Mantos Blancos and Mantoverde mines, its 50.1 percent stake in the El Soldado mine and the Chagres smelter, all in Chile. The global miner is already testing the market with the sale of Mantoverde and Mantos Blancos and prospective buyers "from all over" have shown interest, according to Faul.

Source: SMM

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• Scarcity
• Water Losses
• Governance & Planning