On Monday, Anglo American announced that it had begun commercial operations at the Quellaveco project in Peru, but lowered the project's 2022 production guidance from the previous 100,000-150,000 tonnes to 80,000-100,000 tonnes. The mine will produce an average of 300,000 tonnes of copper equivalent per year in its first 10 years of operation, making it the largest new copper mine in the country since MMG's Las Bambas copper mine in 2016.
Duncan Wanblad, the company's chief executive, said the copper mine will increase the company's total global production in copper equivalent terms by 10%, bringing the company's total copper production to nearly 1 million tons per year.
Quellaveco's production, powered entirely by renewable energy and with an autonomous drilling and transport fleet, will increase significantly over the next 9-12 months. Production guidance for 2023 and 2024 remains unchanged at 320,000-370,000 tonnes. The company said the cash cost of the business is currently fixed at $1.50/lb, up from $1.35/lb previously.
Anglo American lowered its copper production forecast for Chile to 560,000-580,000 tonnes from the previous 560,000-600,000 tonnes, mainly due to the decline in throughput of its Los Bronces caused by water use constraints and changes in ore characteristics.
The company also raised the average cost of its copper business to $1.60/lb from the previous $1.50/lb, reflecting lower production and inflation.
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