The world’s insatiable need for certain mineral resources like the precious metals copper, gold and silver has continued to grow as humanity tries to transition to a carbon neutral future. Mining companies are searching high and low for new deposits to exploit to meet the demand and one has recently announced that they’ve struck a rich vein in the Andean highlands.
A joint venture between the US-based Lundin Mining and Australia’s BHP, named Vicuña, says that it has found five times more metal than expected at its Filo del Sol project. In total the monumental find is estimated to contain $337 billion-worth of copper, gold and silver.
“Big deposits tend to get bigger and we see clear expansion potential”
Lundin Mining said in a press release that the Filo del Sol copper deposit is estimated to contain at least 13 million tons of copper, 32 million ounces of gold and 18.7 million kilograms of silver. Furthermore, there may be another 49 million ounces of gold and 22.9 million kilograms of silver that has been inferred.
“Big deposits tend to get bigger and we see clear expansion potential to grow the resource,” said Jack Lundin, President and CEO. “Filo del Sol has been one of the most significant greenfield discoveries in the last 30 years,” he added.
The mining giant wanted to highlight not only the size and scale of the Vicuña project but also that it has the potential to be “one of the highest grade undeveloped open pit copper projects in the world.”
Difficult and environmental fragile location
The deposit is located in Argentina in the province of San Juan along the border with Chile and the Atacama Desert, an area with a vast wealth of mineral deposits. Extracting the minerals at the Filo del Sol project won’t be easy as it sits at roughly 16,400 feet (5,000 meters) above sea level.
However, Lundin Mining says that its proximity to Vicuña’s other project, Josemaria, will allow for “greater economies of scale, shared infrastructure and increased optionality for staged expansions to support a globally ranked mining complex.”
Still there are other concerns about the lasting damage an open pit mine could cause in the fragile high-altitude ecosystem points out Popular Mechanics. Lundin has said that the company would keep diesel consumption to a minimum by bringing renewable energy to the area via high-voltage power lines that it will build.
Environmentalists have also raised concerns about the mine’s effects on glaciers in the area and drinking water, around 70% of Argentina’s comes from glaciers. Groups like Dialogue Earth and Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (FARN) have accused Lundin of disregarding Argentina’s Glacier Law, which prohibits establishing mining pits within the periglacial area.
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