Zaldívar is an open-pit, heap-leach copper mine in northern Chile. The mine is located in the Andean Precordillera in Region II of northern Chile, approximately 1,400 kilometres north of Santiago and 175 kilometres southeast of the port city of Antofagasta near Escondida, one of the world’s largest copper mines. The mine lies at an average elevation of 3,300 metres.
Zaldívar uses conventional methods of open pit mining. Pure cathode copper is produced by three stages of crushing and stacking of ore, followed by heap leaching and bacterial activity to remove the copper from the ore into solution. Run-of-mine dump leach material is placed on the old sulphide ore pad, and is also leached.
In 2008, Zaldívar produced 295 million pounds of copper at total cash costs of US$1.08 per pound1. Proven and probable copper reserves as of December 31, 2008 are estimated at 6.3 billion pounds2.
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