Teck weighs future of its $5.6 billion expansion project in Chile

Canadian miner Teck Resources (NYSE: TCK) has temporarily withdrawn the Social and Environmental Impact Assessment (SEIA) application for its $5.6 billion Quebrada Blanca II expansion project in northern Chile.

The Vancouver-based company said in a statement that it is reviewing comments from the regulator and will later resubmit the application for its copper-molybdenum project.

According to the documents submitted, the withdrawal ends the environmental evaluation process of the expansion of Quebrada Blanca mine, located 1,500 kilometers north of capital Santiago.

The development involves an open pit and construction of a 135,000 t/d copper concentrator to process the hypogene ore below the mined-out supergene deposit for an average output of 200,000 t/y copper and 5,000 t/y molybdenum.

As a result, copper production will more than double and the mine life will be extended to over 39 years.