We are pleased to announce that Minera Antucoya, located in Chile, which is owned 30% by Marubeni Corporation (“Marubeni”) and 70% by Antofagasta plc (“Antofagasta”), one of the world’s leading copper producers, has signed the loan agreements relating to the USD650 million project financing (the "Financing") for the development of the Antucoya copper mining project (the “Project”) on 5 November 2013.
The Financing is being provided by Japan Bank for International Cooperation (“JBIC”), Export Development Canada (“EDC”), KfW IPEX-Bank GMBH (“KfW”), Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Natixis (France), ING Capital LLC (the Netherlands), Corpbanca (Chile), and Banco del Estado de Chile (Chile). Through the arrangement of the Financing, the project risks inherent in the Project will be shared with these financial institutions.
The Antucoya copper mine is located in the northern II Region of Chile, 180km northeast of Antofagasta City, and will be producing copper cathodes utilizing the SX-EW (Solvent Extraction and Electrowinning) process. The total amount of copper ore reserves related to this project are estimated to exceed 640 million tonnes, and after the start of production in 2015, the project is expected to produce approximately 80,000 tonnes of copper cathodes annually over a period of approximately 20 years. There is potential sulphide ore in the underlayer of this project, which could form the basis of future concentrate production as well.
Of this, Marubeni will be entitled to approximately 24,000 tonnes per year of copper cathodes (payable copper), which corresponds to Marubeni’s 30% interest in the project. Marubeni plans to contribute to the stable supply of copper resources primarily to Japanese cable and wire rod manufacturers based in Asia.
Through the Project, the total amount of copper cathodes from Marubeni’s interests will increase from 125,000 tonnes a year to 150,000 tonnes a year (payable copper equivalent), placing Marubeni as one of the top owners of copper assets among Japanese companies. Beyond participating in the copper mine development and copper production with Antofagasta in Chile, Marubeni plans to contribute to the stable supply of copper resources to Japan by securing high quality copper resources, while continuing to grow its copper business with a vision of expanding into other geographic regions.
