Our strategy for our copper business is to find or acquire, develop and operate long life, low cost mines in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.
Fernando Arcaya, truck operator and Catherine Gonzalez, truck operator at Los Bronces, ChileIn Chile we have interests in six copper operations. The Mantos Blancos and Mantoverde mines are wholly owned and we hold a 75.5% interest in Anglo American Sur (AA Sur), which includes the Los Bronces and El Soldado mines and the Chagres smelter. We have a 44% interest in the Collahuasi mine.
The mines also produce associated by-products such as molybdenum and silver.
We also have controlling interests in the Quellaveco and Michiquillay copper projects in Peru and a 50% interest in the Pebble project in Alaska.
Growth opportunities
The Los Bronces expansion project successfully delivered first production in the fourth quarter of 2011. Additional growth in the medium term will come from the Quellaveco project in Peru, and from Collahuasi, where a pre-feasibility study into further expansion continues.
We are continuing work on evaluating the development options for the Michiquillay resource and Pebble, with pre-feasibility studies under way at both projects.
In Chile, we are conducting extensive exploration in the prospective Los Bronces district and at the West Wall project in the Valparaíso region, in which Anglo American and Xstrata each has a 50% interest.