Copper Mining Project in Panama
The Korea Resources Corporation (KRC) announced on March 27 that it succeeded in attracting an investment of 200 billion won (US$180 million) for the Cobre Panama copper mining project and the first copper concentrate there is expected to be produced in the latter half of this year.
The Cobre Panama mine, about 120 km away from Panama City, is one of the largest copper mines in the world and its total reserves are estimated at 3.183 billion tons. The Korea Resources Corporation joined the project in 2009 by acquiring 10% of shares and invested a total of 674.6 billion until the end of 2017.
FQM, which has the rest of the shares, attracted an investment of one trillion won (US$900 million) in 2015 by signing a contract with precious metal streamer Franco-Nevada with regard to 80% of project shares.
One power plant is currently in trial operation in the project, which is showing a construction completion rate of 73%. The construction of the other power plant and a port is about to be completed. The Korea Resources Corporation is planning to start trial production in the latter half of 2018 before normal production scheduled for the second half of 2019. “The Cobre Panama project, which is a combination between surface mining and flotation, is expected to create sustainable profits for at least 40 years to come,” the corporation explained.