Located in the High Andes at an altitude of 12,750-15,400ft above sea level, Salares Norte is a high-grade gold-silver, open-pit deposit with attributable mineral reserves of 4.3Moz of gold, 398Mlb of copper, and 42.2Moz of silver
First gold drawn from Gold Fields’ Salares Norte project in Chile. (Credit: Business Wire)
South Africa-based gold mining major Gold Fields has achieved the first gold from the Salares Norte project in the Atacama region of northern Chile.
An announcement in this regard was made by Fluor’s mining and metals unit. Fluor is responsible for the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of the Chilean mining project.
Located in the High Andes at an altitude of 12,750-15,400ft above sea level, Salares Norte is a high-grade gold-silver, open-pit deposit.
According to Fluor, construction as well as pre-commissioning are slated to be wrapped up this month.
The Salares Norte project, after reaching the full operations stage, is anticipated to yield around 350,000 ounces of gold annually through the life of the mine, which stands at 11.5 years.
The mine’s attributable mineral reserves are 4.3 millions of ounces (Moz) of gold, 398 million pounds (Mlb) of copper, and 42.2Moz of silver.
Fluor mining and metals business line president Harish Jammula said: “Salares Norte is a project at the forefront of innovation, technology and environmental care.
“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.
“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.”
Gold Fields’ board had given its formal approval to develop the mining project in April 2020 following a positive feasibility study and Chilean authorities’ environmental impact assessment (EIA).
Fluor was given full notice to proceed with the execution of its EPC contract by Gold Fields in July 2020. The former also undertook the pre-feasibility study for the Salares Norte project.
Construction on the $860m project formally began in January 2021.