Vale studying $1B expansion of Salobo copper mine in Brazil — report

Vale (NYSE:VALE), the world’s No.1 iron ore miner, is set to approve a $1 billion expansion of its vast Salobo copper-gold mine, located in Carajás, Brazil.

The project — known as the Salobo 3 — is expected to be approved later this month and would add about 50,000 tonnes to the open-pit mine’s current capacity of 200,000 tonnes of copper per year, Bloomberg reports.

At around 1,800km2, Carajás is the second largest land holding in a region known for iron oxide copper-gold deposits of which Salobo is the prime example. The mine, the largest copper deposit ever discovered in Brazil, is estimated to hold more than 1 billion tonnes of the red metal.

Canada’s Wheaton Precious Metals (TSX, NYSE: WPM) is a major partner in the mine and receives 75 percent of the gold produced from it.

More to come…

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