Canadian metals and mining company Teck Resources has signed a $2.5bn resource financing agreement to fund the development of its Quebrada Blanca Phase 2 (QB2) copper project in Chile.
Claimed to be one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper resources, the QB2 project will have an initial mine life of 28 years.
Construction of the project was sanctioned by the project partners in last December, with first copper production scheduled to commence in the second half of 2021.
Expected to full production capacity in the middle of 2022, the QB2 will produce clean copper and molybdenum concentrates.
Teck owns an indirect 60% stake in Compañía Minera Teck Quebrada Blanca (QBSA), which owns QB2 project.
Sumitomo Metal Mining and Sumitomo Corporation own 25% and 5% stakes respectively in QBSA, while the remaining 10% non-funding interest is held by Chilean state agency Empresa Nacional de Mineria (ENAMI).
Until the completion of project construction, Teck, Sumitomo Metal Mining and Sumitomo will guarantee the obligations of QBSA under the 12 year-facility.
The financing for the project will be directly provided by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Export Development Canada, the Bank of Exports and Imports of Korea, the German Government for the Program of Guarantees of Unrelated Loans, KFW IPEX-Bank GMBH, the Bank of Montreal and BNP Paribas, ING Bank NV, Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking.
QB2 project will create up to 11,000 jobs during construction phase
In the first five years of operational life, the QB2 project is expected to have copper-equivalent annual production for 316,000 tonnes.
The project involves construction of a new 140,000-tonne-per-day concentrator, tailings storage facility, concentrate pipeline, water supply pipeline, desalination plant, concentrate filtration plant and port to produce copper and molybdenum concentrates.
Teck expects the project to create 9,000 – 11,000 jobs during construction phase, and more than 2,000 ongoing direct and indirect jobs during operation.
