[ferro-alloys.com]Environmental authorities in northern Chile have granted a permit to state copper giant Codelco for a $1 billion investment at its Salvador division, the company said Friday.

The Rajo Inca project involves the treatment of around 900 million mt of reserves from the division's Indio Muerto deposit.

Once complete, the Rajo Inca project will increase production at Salvador to 90,000 mt/year of copper, up around 30% from current levels.

Reserves at the underground operation at Salvador are due to run out next year.

"Changing the extraction method to open pit mining is therefore urgent as it is the only way to continue operations to extract available resources," Codelco said in a statement.

Salvador is Chile's smallest division by production. Last year it produced 50,600 mt, down 16.8% from 2018.

"We are very satisfied with the speed with which Rajo Inca has advanced. We began prefeasibility studies in 2015 and expect to enter operations in 2021," said Codelco CEO Octavio Araneda.

Rajo Inca is one of the six major investment projects Codelco is advancing to bolster production at its aging mines. A new underground operation at the company's Chuquicamata division entered production last year while a new mine level at the underground El Teniente mine will follow in 2023.

Codelco said that Rajo Inca must now be assessed by its board of directors with approval expected to come in April this year.

Construction work could then start by the end of the first half of the year.

The project will include the construction of a new pit, two new waste stockpiles as well as an upgrade to the Salvador processing plants.

Salvador head Christian Toutin said that the project will create 1,800 jobs at the peak of construction

(S&P Global Platts)

• [Editor:王可]