Southern Copper plans to advance the San Juan-Cháparra exploration project in Peru with a US$1.2 million investment

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Southern Perú (Southern Copper Peru) plans to advance the San Juan-Cháparra exploration mining project between the Atico and Cháparra districts in the province of Caravelí, Arequipa region, Peru, with up to 20 drill pads planned for construction.

The company states that the technical and economic basis for implementing the project is the need to obtain reliable geological information to determine the feasibility of future mining development, thereby driving investment in the sector.

Each drill pad measures approximately 12 meters × 15 meters, i.e., 180 square meters each, and can accommodate up to 2 mud settling ponds. The settling ponds are 2 meters wide, 5 meters long, and 2 meters deep, with a capacity of 30 cubic meters, and are covered with HDPE geomembrane. The pads will also have temporary storage for additives, fuel, pipes, and drill cores.

The company estimates the implementation of up to 20 drill holes distributed across 20 pads, with an average depth of 250 meters per hole, which is an estimated depth; depending on geological and technical objectives, depths of up to 500 meters may be reached. Southern Copper notes that exploration activities will be managed under a gradual and adaptable technical approach. Although the document evaluates and presupposes a scenario of up to 20 drill pads, their final activation will depend strictly on the results of cores obtained from initial drilling and favorable geological interpretation. This means that the actual number of pads and drill holes implemented may be less than planned, thereby ensuring that the project's disturbance footprint is minimized.

Southern Perú's objective is to verify at depth the surface evidence of iron (Fe), copper (Cu), and gold (Au) mineralization in the area, in order to delineate and quantify these mineralizations. The use of the Environmental Technical Sheet (FTA) is technically and legally justified, as the project scale of up to 20 drill pads qualifies as a low environmental impact case.

This mining company under Grupo México states that the proposed components will not overlap with or affect water bodies, snow-capped mountains, glaciers, fragile ecosystems, bofedales (Andean high-altitude wetlands), wetlands, or other ecologically fragile areas, and ensures strict compliance with regulations and protection of the natural environment. The overall implementation of the project is expected to have a total duration of 24 months, with a total required investment of US$1.2 million.

The project will be carried out within the following mining concessions: Chaparra 3 (1,000.00 hectares), Chaparra 4 (1,000.00 hectares), Chaparra 5 (700.00 hectares), and Chaparra 6 (800.00 hectares). The project is also located on state-owned wasteland in Peru.

During field verification in the project area, Southern Copper confirmed that within the AIAI there are eight pre-existing mining workings left unremediated by third parties. These disturbances include: one disturbed area, two pads, one existing access road, and four medias barretas.