Cobriza Mine Approves $8.25 Million Operational Upgrade

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Peru's National Service for Environmental Certification for Sustainable Investments (Senace) has approved the Eighth Technical Support Report (ITS) for the Cobriza Mine, submitted by Operadores Concentrados Peruanos S.A.C., granting environmental certification through Resolution No. 00136-2026-SENACE-PE/DEAR. The project, located in San Pedro de Coris, Huancavelica Region, involves an estimated investment of approximately $8.2531 million, with the scope of upgrades focused on the mine's hydraulic backfill system and potable water treatment system.

The hydraulic backfill system will be extended to higher levels of the Coris mining area, with the existing system adding one pumping station and associated delivery pipelines to transport tailings to underground mined-out zones. This adjustment corresponds to the backfill requirements following the advancement of underground mining at Cobriza, with the relevant system handling tailings disposal as well as backfilling operations for underground drifts, stopes, and other mining spaces.

The second component involves the construction of a compact potable water treatment unit at the mine site, employing reverse osmosis technology to upgrade the existing potable water treatment system. The unit will operate automatically with scheduled monitoring; certain implementation phases will utilize already approved infrastructure without requiring significant new land occupation.

In its environmental assessment, Senace determined that the negative environmental impacts arising from the modifications included in this ITS are of a non-significant nature, with corresponding prevention, control, and mitigation measures already incorporated into Cobriza's previously approved environmental management documents. This approval corresponds to the environmental certification milestone for the aforementioned facility modifications, and publicly available information does not indicate that related construction has commenced.

Operated by Operadores Concentrados Peruanos, Cobriza is a mechanized underground mine primarily producing copper, with silver, lead, zinc, and gold as by-products, using the up-hole cut-and-fill mining method. Company data indicates that its concentrator plant has an installed processing capacity of 9,100 dry metric tons per day, with current plans targeting an initial throughput of 4,000 dry metric tons per day, gradually increasing thereafter.