First Quantum’s $5.9B Taca Taca copper mine: NPV, capex and mine plan for engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on MINING.com
30 Second Briefing
First Quantum Minerals’ updated technical report values the Taca Taca copper-gold project in Salta, Argentina at an after-tax NPV of $5.92 billion with a 19.3% IRR, assuming $4.50/lb copper and $3,000/oz gold, more than double the 2021 NPV of $2.36 billion. The open-pit design is based on 1.99 billion tonnes of proven and probable reserves grading 0.42% Cu, 0.01% Mo and 0.09 g/t Au, supporting 35 years of mine life with initial 40 Mt/y processing, expanding to 60 Mt/y in year five. Forecast output averages 291,000 t/y Cu and 133,000 oz/y Au for the first decade at cash costs of $0.97/lb, but major capex of about $5.2 billion is unlikely before 2028, pending RIGI incentives and a restart of Cobre Panama.
Technical Brief
- Project sits at 3,500 m elevation in Salta’s Puna region, 55 km from Chile.
- Site is 230 km west of Salta city with no local communities within the project footprint.
- Contained metals: 8.43 Mt Cu, 244,400 t Mo and 5.53 Moz Au in reserves.
- Reserve update equates to +13% P&P tonnage, +9% in-situ Cu and +9% in-situ Au vs 2021.
- Mineralisation remains open at depth and along southern and eastern margins, indicating further resource upside.
- Initial 40 Mt/y plant capex is estimated at $4.2 billion, with $1 billion for 60 Mt/y expansion.
- Life-of-mine cash costs are projected at $1.26/lb Cu, higher than the first-decade 97¢/lb.
Our Take
With a life-of-mine cash cost of $1.26/lb for copper, Taca Taca screens in our database as a low-cost Latin American copper asset, which could help First Quantum rebalance its portfolio risk after the disruption at Cobre Panama in Panama.
The assumed $4.50/lb copper price and 8% discount rate put this study at the aggressive end of project assumptions in our recent copper project coverage, signalling that financing appetite will be highly sensitive to where long-term price decks settle over the next few years.
An initial capex of $4.2 billion plus $1 billion for expansion against a 35-year mine life and 1.99 billion tonnes of reserves suggests Taca Taca will compete directly with other large-scale Andean copper projects in our database for a limited pool of project finance and EPC capacity in the late 2020s.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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