Diversified miner BHP said on Thursday that it had approved a $2.46bn capital expenditure programme for the Spence open-cut copper mine in Northern Chile, expecting this to extend the mine’s life by more than 50 years. At mid-case consensus metal prices, the mine would expect an internal rate of return of 16%, and a payback period of 4.5 years from first production, BHP said in a statement. In the first 10 years of operation, incremental production from the project was expected to be approximately 185,000 tonnes a year of payable copper in concentrate and 4, 000 tonnes a year of molybdenum, the company said. BHP’s share price was flat in mid-morning trade, at R232.88. At the same time, the three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange was up 2.4% to $6,532 a tonne. It is up 18% so far this year. First production of metals from the mine is expected in 2021. The price of copper has surged in 2017 amid supply disruptions and market speculation. Open interest in the copper futur...
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