| Location | |
|---|---|
| Province | El Loa |
| Country | Chile |
| Coordinates | 21°55′14″S 68°50′00″W / 21.9205°S 68.8333°W / -21.9205; -68.8333 |
| Production | |
| Products | Copper Molybdenum Gold Silver |
| Production | 99,100 tonnes of copper[1] |
| Financial year | 2024 |
| Owner | |
| Company | Freeport-McMoRan (51%) Codelco (49%) |
The El Abra mine is a large copper mine located in northern Chile in the El Loa province.[2] It is operated by American mining company Freeport-McMoRan, who owns a 51% stake in the mine,[3] with the remainder owned by the Chilean state-owned Codelco.[2] The stake owned by Freeport-McMoRan originally owned by Cyprus Amax Minerals and Lac Minerals until Phelps Dodge acquired Cyprus Minerals and Lac minerals was absorbed by Barric Gold in 1994.[4] These two companies had won a bid to engage in a partnership with Codelco.[5] It was then owned by Phelps Dodge until 2007 when Freeport-McMoRan completed a $25.9 billion acquisition of Phelps Dodge.[6][7] The mine holds the The Copper Mark environmental certificate.[8]
The development of the previously unexploited El Abra ores as a joint venture was enabled by the law Ley N° 19.137 of 1992 which allowed Codelco to sell its assests with the previous approval by the Chilean Copper Commission and allowed the company to form joint ventures.[9] In the bid process nine proposals were evaluated by Codelco which settled for the joint bid of Cyprus Minerals and Lac Minerals.[5] The bid process suffered however from an overestimation of resources by 14% which caused the winning party, Cyprus Amax Minerals (renamed after a 1993 merger with AMAX Inc.) and Lac Minerals, to renegotiate the acquisition down to US$345 million from the previous price of US$405 million. Codelco reportedly did not contest the new proposed price as a matter of the precedent failed negotiations would create for future joint ventures.[4]
The mine's annual produce lies since 2016 in the range of 70 to 100 kMT copper fines.[1] Previously, from 2005 to 2015 the annual produce was in the range of 120 to 220 kMT copper fines.[1] As of 2025 it was Chile's 17th most productive copper mine.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d Anuario de estadisticas del cobre y otros minerales [Yearbook: Copper and Other Mineral Statistics: 2005 2024] (Report). Chilean Copper Commission. 2025.
- ^ a b "South America Locations - Chile". Freeport McMoRan Website.
- ^ "Freeport's Chile-based El Abra mine, union seal wage agreement". Reuters. 10 April 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
- ^ a b "A veintidós años de la venta de El Abra por Codelco". Revista Química (in Spanish). 2016-10-30. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
- ^ a b "Cyprus-Lac partnership wins bid for El Abra project". The Northern Miner. Retrieved 2025-09-30.
- ^ James, Steve. "Freeport acquires Phelps Dodge, launches offering". Reuters. Reuters. Retrieved October 16, 2022.
- ^ Chilean Copper Commission (2009). Propietarios Mineras Chile (PDF) (Report). Ciper. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
- ^ "The role of the Copper Mark in responsible mining". Bnamericas. 2022-09-09. Retrieved 2025-08-21.
- ^ Historia de la Ley N° 19.137 (PDF) (Report) (in Spanish). Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional. 2016. Retrieved 2025-09-25.
