In August 2015, Teck and Goldcorp announced an agreement to combine their respective Relincho and El Morro projects, located approximately 40 kilometres apart in the Huasco Province in the Atacama Region of Chile, into a single project with the interim name of Project Corridor.
Community concerns associated with environmental protection of watersheds contributed to the decision to combine the projects. Combining these two projects is expected to provide a number of benefits, including:
Reduced environmental footprint
Project Corridor will reduce infrastructure requirements, including using a single desalination plant, a single port, a single transmission line, a single concentrator and a common tailings facility. As a result, the environmental footprint of Project Corridor will be significantly less than the combined footprint of the stand-alone projects. The use of a common tailings facility located at the Relincho site responds to concerns expressed by local communities regarding the location of the previously proposed El Morro tailings facility within the agriculturally important Huasco River watershed.
Lower cost, improved capital efficiency
Common infrastructure will significantly reduce project capital costs and ongoing operating costs. Further, the Preliminary Economic Assessment contemplates a phased development approach that will allow future expansions to be funded from project cash flows, which will significantly reduce the initial funding requirement.
Optimized mine plan
The integrated project is one of the largest undeveloped copper-gold-molybdenum projects in the Americas. Project Corridor allows for the optimization of both resources, resulting in a longer mine life of at least 32 years, based on existing proven and probable reserves, with the scope for further extensions given the significant exploration potential across the combined property.
Enhanced community benefits
Project Corridor is expected to provide significant economic benefits to the local region. An estimated 4,000 jobs will be created during the construction phase and 1,400 jobs during operation. The increased mine life will also provide longer-term employment opportunities and community investment.
Community engagement
Project Corridor will continue to undertake extensive engagement with communities, Indigenous Peoples and other communities of interest to help guide the project’s development. In the months ahead, project staff will be meeting with the community and Indigenous Peoples to explain the Project Corridor concept and will work collaboratively to define the project’s engagement model. This process will be facilitated by two independent organizations with expertise in community engagement and experience in enhancing social performance and socially sustainable outcomes for resource projects.
