Cementos Pacasmayo to develop phosphate mine

It has been reported that Peru's second-largest cement company, Cementos Pacasmayo, is planning to invest at least US$300 million in developing a phosphate mine and processing plant in northern Piura district.

Cementos Pacasmayo SAA is a privately-owned industrial and mining company, whose purpose is the production and marketing of cement, lime, blocks, concrete and aggregates. The company’s operations are mostly in the north and the east. It has a modern cement plant in Pacasmayo, a cement plant in Rioja and premixed concrete plants in Chimbote, Trujillo, Pacasmayo, Chiclayo, Piura and Cajamarca.

The mine will be located near to the phosphate mine belonging to the Brazilian mining giant Vale, which is expected to begin production in mid-2010.

Both companies expect to export the majority of their processed product.

Cementos Pacasmayo is controlled by Hochschild Mining, one of the largest silver producers in Latin America, with operations in Peru, Argentina, Chile and Canada.

Lino Abram, head of Cementos Pacasmayo said, 'the preliminary investment is some US$ 300 million to develop the phosphate plant, although apart from this, we expect to invest another US$ 50 million in the construction of a port'. He added that a local subsidiary of the company is currently undertaking exploration work at the site and that initial results suggest that at 600 million t, the mine’s reserves could be greater than those of Vale (around 238 million t).

The mine is expected to begin operations in about three years.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/the-americas/26112009/cementos_pacasmayo_to_develop_phosphate_mine/