MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

BHP Billiton makes huge copper discovery in Chile

Anglo-Australian BHP Billiton has made a big discovery near its Escondida copper mine in Chile and has announced plans to spend 327 million US dollars to shore up the resource and two others nearby as it looks to extend the life at the world's biggest copper mine.

Drilling at the prospect, which is called Pampa Escondida, showed that it "contains at least 1 billion tonnes of porphyry-style mineralisation", BHP said, noting that not enough drilling had been done to meet mineral resource standards. "Exciting results are now being obtained in several areas close to existing infrastructure and processing facilities, including the new Pampa Escondida prospect" BHP said in its quarterly exploration and development report according to The Australian. BHP Billiton and its partners, which include takeover Rio Tinto, plan to spend 327 million US dollars exploring the Escondida mine lease over the next five years with the aim of delineating and expanding Pampa and two other specific projects, as well other identified targets. BHP owns 57.5% of Escondida and will pay 188 million US dollars of the total. Rio owns 30% of the operation and a Japanese-dominated consortium the rest. Total production of Escondida is 1.4 million tons.