Los Pelambres expansion capex rises 30% to $2.2bn

London-listed Antofagasta has completed a review of the project schedule and costs for an expansion of its flagship Los Pelambres copper mine in Chile, and on Thursday reported a revised capital cost estimate of $2.2-billion.

This is a 30% increase from the previous estimate of $1.7-billion and was mainly owing to the impact of Covid-19 on costs and the construction schedule, as well as generation inflation, including increased input prices, wages, labour incentives and logistics costs.