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BHP BILLITON PLC - BHP BILLITON APPROVES SPENCE COPPER PROJECT
BHP Billiton Plc
SHARE CODE: BIL
ISIN: GB0000566504
NEWS RELEASE
Date 25 October 2004
BHP BILLITON APPROVES SPENCE COPPER PROJECT
BHP Billiton today announced the approval of the US$990
million Spence Copper Project in northern Chile. The project
will have a designed capacity to produce 200,000 tonnes of
copper cathode per annum and will have a mine life of 19
years. First cathode production is scheduled for the fourth
quarter of 2006.
Project development will consist of the construction of a new
open-cut mine with associated infrastructure, a 50k tonne per
day crushing circuit, two separate leach pads, two parallel
solvent extraction (SX) plants and an electrowinning (EW)
circuit to produce copper cathode.
BHP Billiton President Base Metals Diego Hernandez said,
`Spence is the best undeveloped copper orebody known in the
world today. Its large reserves, low operating cost structure
and high return potential will enable it to operate as one of
the world`s top tier mines. Its proximity to critical
infrastructure such as power, water and road and rail
transportation will facilitate development and improve the
associated economic returns. We are excited about its
prospects and its future contribution to BHP Billiton.`
The Spence orebody consists of both copper sulphide and oxide
ores that will be mined from one open-cut mine but processed
separately in order to achieve higher recovery rates. The
chemical leaching of oxide ores and bacterial leaching of
sulphide ores will be conducted on separate leach pads, with
the resulting solutions sent to separate oxide and sulphide SX
plants. The resulting solutions from the SX plants will then
be treated in a single EW plant to produce copper cathode.
Mr Hernandez said, `This project, which enjoys investment
protection under the DL 600 Foreign Investment Statute in
Chile, continues to demonstrate our commitment to develop our
world class projects and operations in Chile, where we have a
long-established track record as a responsible corporate
citizen.`
Proven and Probable ore reserves for the Spence orebody are
estimated to be 310 million tonnes of copper ore with an
average total copper grade of 1.14% at a total copper cut-off
grade of 0.30%. These ore reserves are divided between 79
million tonnes of heap leach oxide ore at a grade of 1.18%
total copper and 0.88% acid soluble copper, and 231 million
tonnes of heap leach sulphide ore at a grade of 1.13% total
copper, both at a total copper cut-off of 0.3%. The break down
of proven and probable ore reserve categories is presented
below.
Ore Reserve Reserve Million % Total % Acid
(at 0.3% Category Tonnes Copper Soluble
TCu Cut- Copper
off)
Oxide Ore Proven 40 1.35 1.00
Probable 38 1.01 0.76
Proven + 79 1.18 0.88
Probable
Sulphide Proven 107 1.38 na
Ore
Probable 124 0.92 na
Proven + 231 1.13 na
Probable
Total Ore Proven + 310 1.14 na
Probable
All tonnes and grade information has been rounded; hence small
differences may be present in the totals.
Further information on BHP Billiton can be found on our
Internet site: http://www.bhpbilliton.com
Australia United Kingdom
Jane Belcher, Investor Mark Lidiard, Investor &
Relations Media Relations
Tel: +61 3 9609 3952 Mobile: Tel: +44 20 7802 4156
+61 417 031 653 email:
email: Mark.Lidiard@bhpbilliton.com
Jane.H.Belcher@bhpbilliton.co
m
Tania Price, Media Relations Ariane Gentil, Media
Tel: +61 3 9609 3815 Mobile: Relations
+61 419 152 780 Tel: +44 20 7802 4177
email: Mobile: +44 78 81 51 8715
Tania.Price@bhpbilliton.com email:
Ariane.Gentil@bhpbilliton.co
United States m
Francis McAllister, Investor
Relations South Africa
Tel: +1 713 961 8625 Mobile: Michael Campbell, Investor &
+1 713 480 3699 Media Relations
email: Tel: +27 11 376 3360
Francis.R.McAllister@bhpbilli Mobile: +27 82 458 2587
ton.com email:
Michael.J.Campbell@bhpbillit
on.com
The information upon which this press release is founded and
which relates to Spence Ore Reserves is based on information
compiled by Mr. Paul Satchwell, who is a Member of The
Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr.
Satchwell is employed by Mining Technical Services
International S.A. He has sufficient experience with the
estimation, assessment, evaluation and economic extraction
of large-scale copper mining operations and projects. This
experience is relevant to the style of mineralisation and
type of deposit under consideration and to the activity
which he is undertaking, and as such he qualifies as a
Competent Person as defined in the 1999 Edition of the
`Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results,
Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves`. Mr. Satchwell consents
to the inclusion in this press release of the matters based
on their information in the form and context in which it
appears.
Date: 25/10/2004 08:10:03 AM
Produced by the JSE SENS Department |
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