Marimaca secures water option for life of mine seawater supply

Highlights

• Milestone de-risking event for the Marimaca Copper Project, secures option for seawater supply to meet the project’s expected long-term water supply requirements.
• Water option provides for an expected increase in water supply volume requirements relative to the 2020 PEA to account for the scale increases targeted in the planned 2023 definitive feasibility study (DFS). ? Agreement provides for the minimum expected requirements for an upscaled 50 000 tpy capacity copper cathode project, with the ability to flex up and down to certain thresholds according to site water requirements.
• Operationally efficient means of water supply with significant environmental benefits, removing the risk for potentially adverse impacts of sourcing water from other limited supplies, such as groundwater.
• Freshwater usage is consistently identified as a key risk to operations in the Atacama region.
• Recycled water that would otherwise be discharged back into the ocean.
• Option agreement also secures the power supply for required pumping infrastructure and provides an option to provide 10% of project operational power requirements.
• Both are committed to be provided by certified renewable energy sources, pursuant to power purchase agreements that will be entered into on customary market terms in the future.

Hayden Locke, President & CEO of Marimaca Copper, commented:

“Our goal is to build an example of a sustainable mine, minimising environmental and social impacts, while also providing a commodity which is fundamental to the future of our society. Our water strategy, which removes the use of any natural sources of fresh water, is a fundamental example of this goal in action.

“Globally, mining accounts for significant freshwater use and its use in arid regions, in particular, is an enormous social challenge. According to Wood Mackenzie, mining accounts for 3.1% of national water usage in Chile. In the Atacama Region, this climbs to nearly 50%, which is clearly unsustainable over the long term.

“Securing this supply represents a significant milestone in our efforts to continuously de-risk our project development strategy. It provides clarity and security on a key input for our project’s development but also, in partnering with existing infrastructure providers, materially reduces the permitting risk. The use of seawater, as well as the green power supply commitments provided by our partner, represents a significant achievement with respect to the sustainability commitments we launched earlier this year and continues the path of our broader objective of developing a sustainable copper mine in Chile.”

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/mining/09112022/marimaca-secures-water-option-for-life-of-mine-seawater-supply/