The company conducted its copper modeling project using public government data and its own proprietary data.

Southern Copper has spent years waiting for the final green light that consecutive governments had declined to give.

Now the Vancouver-based company can set a target date for its 2019 resource expansion and target testing drill program.

The company has received promising assays from two more drill holes at the Opemiska copper mine complex near Chapais.

Brazil has a backlog of more than 20,000 areas where mining rights expired or were otherwise lost by their previous holders, equivalent to roughly 10% of the areas with pending mining permits.

Glencore said in a statement that about 80 people had protested on the national road in the town of Luilu.

The actual restart date is expected in the first half of 2020.