BHP to advance $2 billion concentrator optimization at Escondida mine

BHP will move forward with a $2 billion plan to optimize its concentrator at Escondida, the world’s largest copper mine, as part of its investment plan in Chile, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

BHP said the optimization is the first initiative of its decade-long $10.8 billion investment plan it announced in November. The statement said the company plans on submitting the plan for environmental permitting soon.

“It’s a plan that doesn’t just allow us to maintain production at our operation, but means making a $10 billion investment that will benefit the country and the region of Antofagasta,” Escondida president Alejandro Tapia said in a statement.

The announcement came as Chile’s finance minister Mario Marcel visited the mine. Most foreign investment in Chile, Marcel noted, comes from companies already operating in Chile that “are developing projects, finding new investment opportunities or investment needs and using earnings to reinvest in those projects.”

(By Fabian Cambero and Alexander Villegas; Editing by Anthony Esposito and David Gregorio)