en.Wedoany.com Reported - The desalination and water conveyance system developed by Argentina's Techint Ingeniería y Construcción in the Atacama region of northern Chile has achieved 96% progress. The project has passed its first continuous desalinated water flow startup test, marking a crucial step in the structural transformation of Chile's mining sector regarding water resource utilization. Once operational, this infrastructure will supply industrial water to three core mines of the state-owned copper company Codelco in its northern mining division.
Located on the Pacific coast in the Tocopilla Province of the Antofagasta Region, the project comprises a reverse osmosis desalination plant and a water pipeline system spanning over 160 kilometers. The desalination plant is situated in the Tocopilla area. The pipelines, boosted by pumping stations, will transport fresh water to the regulating reservoir at the Radomiro Tomic mining site, located at an altitude exceeding 3,000 meters, ultimately supplying the Chuquicamata, Radomiro Tomic, and Ministro Hales mines. The initial design water conveyance capacity is 840 liters per second, with future expansion potential to 1,956 liters per second.
The project, with an investment of approximately USD 1 billion, is being constructed under a long-term water supply contract by the Aguas Horizonte SpA consortium, operating under a BOOT (Build-Own-Operate-Transfer) model. It will be transferred to Codelco after 20 years of operation. Aguas Horizonte is a joint venture between Japan's Marubeni Corporation and Chile's Transelec. Argentina's Techint Ingeniería y Construcción is responsible for the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) of the project, including the design, procurement, and construction of the desalination plant, water intake, and pumping systems. With over 80 years of history, Techint's business encompasses EPC, steel pipe manufacturing, steel production, energy exploration and development, and medical research, having delivered over 3,300 major projects worldwide.
This project is a significant component of Chile's mining water use structure transformation. According to the Chilean Copper Commission's (Cochilco) 2025–2034 water demand forecast, the total water consumption of Chile's copper mining industry will increase from 18.5 cubic meters per second in 2024 to 20.6 cubic meters per second in 2034. The proportion of seawater in the mining sector's total water use is projected to rise from about 41% in 2024 to approximately 68% by 2034. The northern Antofagasta Region, as the core mining area of Chile, is expected to account for 49% of the national mining water consumption by 2034. With the commissioning of this project and supporting projects like the C20+ project at the Collahuasi copper mine, the 2026–2027 period is seen as a critical window for significant progress in Chile's large-scale mining water sustainability strategy.
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