JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – European mining and development company Atalaya Mining on Monday announced its decision to proceed with the 15-million-tonne-a-year expansion of its Proyecto Riotinto mine, in Spain.
The €80.4-million expansion would upgrade processing facilities, including the installation of a new primary crushing system, a new SAG mill and additional floating cells, with the ultimate goal of lifting copper output to about 50 000 t/y to 55 000 t/y.
The Proyecto Riotinto mine currently has processing capacity of 9.5-million tonnes a year.
Management has received the green light from the board to start early activities required to implement the expansion, including the placing of orders for long-lead equipment.
Atalaya said that construction work would start in the first quarter of next year, with commissioning following in the second half of 2019 and nominal production in the first half of 2020.
The expansion is expected to reduce the Proyecto Riotinto operation’s cash costs and all-in sustaining costs by about 7% from current levels. It is also expected to result in an incremental post-tax net present value of about $113-million, assuming an 8% discount rate, and a post-tax internal rate of return of about 43%.
Meanwhile, Atalaya, which has listings on the Aim and TSX, also announced an equity raising of about £39-million to fund initial capital expenses relating to the expansion.
The company would issue up to 23.34-million shares at 167p a share to raise the capital. Certain major shareholders, representing 72% of the placing shares, have already agreed to participate in the placing.
The balance of the funding will be raised from other sources, the copper miner said.