Caserones

Location
Tierra Amarilla, Atacama, Chile

Operator
JX Nippon Mining & Metals (Lundin Mining / JX Nippon)

Commodity
Copper-Molybdenum

Royalty
Effective 0.8306% NSR

The Caserones open pit mine is developed on a porphyry copper-molybdenum deposit in the Atacama Region of the northern Chilean Andean Cordillera. The mine has been in operation since 2014 and is owned and operated by SCM Minera Lumina Copper Chile SpA, Lundin Mining acquired 51% stake in SCM Minera Lumina Copper Chile SpA, the remaining 49% is held by JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation

The mine produces copper and molybdenum concentrates from a conventional crusher, mill and flotation plant, as well as copper cathode from a dump leach, solvent extraction and electrowinning plant. In 2022 the mine produced 109,009 tonnes of fine copper in concentrate, 3,056 tonnes of fine molybdenum in concentrate, and 15,120 tonnes of fine copper in cathodes (see Lumina’s 2022 Annual Report dated May 26, 2023).

Caserones is located at the southern end of the Maricunga mineral belt and occurs as an Early-Miocene porphyry system. The deposit has a well-developed supergene enrichment profile of oxide copper and secondary chalcocite that overlies hypogene sulfide (chalcopyrite-molybdenite) mineralization. In addition to currently defined zones of mineralization, considerable upside exists on the Caserones property, and exploration for additional resources and reserves has been ongoing.

Lundin Mining has filed a technical report in July 2023 titled “NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Caserones Mining Operation Caserones Project Atacama Region, Chile” (Effective Date: 31 Dec 2022, Report Date: 13 July 2023). The resource and reserves have been since updated in December 2023 and are below:

Mineral Resource Estimate

The Mineral Resource estimate has an effective date of 31 December 2023. The Qualified Person is Paul Daigle, P.Geo a Principal Resource Geologist with AGP Mining Consultants Inc

1. Mineral Resources have an effective date of 31 December 2022, updated December 31, 2023

2. Mineral Resources are presented on a 100% basis.

3. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability

4. The Qualified Person for the mineral resource estimate is Mr. Paul Daigle, P.Geo a Principal Resource Geologist with AGP Mining Consultants Inc

5. The Mineral Resources were estimated using the CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Reserves, as prepared by the CIM Standing Committee and adopted by CIM Council

6. Mineral Resources are inclusive of Mineral Reserves

7. All figures are rounded to reflect the relative accuracy of the estimate

8. Totals may not sum due to rounding as required by reporting guidelines

9. Open pit Mineral Resources are reported within optimized constraining shell

10. Open pit cut-off grade is 0.13% CuT

Mineral Reserve Statement

Mineral Reserves are reported on a 100% basis in Table below using the 2014 CIM Definition Standards and have an effective date of 31 December 2023. LMC, through a wholly-owned subsidiary holds a 51% interest in MLCC – which is the owner of the Project. JX, together with certain of its affiliates, holds the remaining 49% interest.

Mineral Reserves are reported based on calculated block values with blocks routed to the process that generates the greatest revenue. In the case where material does not generate positive revenue in either of the processes (dump leach or concentrator), it is routed as waste. The QP responsible for the Mineral Reserves estimate is Mr. Kirk Hanson, P.E., a Principal Mining Engineer with AGP Mining Consultants Inc.

1. The Mineral Reserves have an effective date of 31 December 2022 updated December 31, 2023 and are reported at the point of delivery to the process plant. The Qualified Person responsible for the estimate is Mr. Kirk Hanson, P.E., Principal Mining Engineer with AGP.

2. Mineral Reserves are reported within a design pit based on an optimized Lerchs–Grossmann pit shell. Input parameters include the following: long term copper price of US$3.65/lb and long term molybdenum price of US$11.45/lb; a 2.88% net smelter return (NSR) royalty rate; average life-of-mine (LOM) mining cost of US$2.32/t mined, average LOM copper concentrate processing cost of US$8.20/t processed, average LOM general and administrative (G&A) costs of US$3.83/t processed and average desalinated water cost of $0.75/t processed; average LOM molybdenum concentrate processing cost of US$24.93/t of concentrate; average LOM dump leach cost of $1.47/t placed; bench face angles that range from 60–70º; fixed metallurgical recoveries of 82.7%, 53.7%, and 60% for copper concentrate, copper dump leach, and molybdenum concentrate respectively. Cut-off grades are based on block values with positive value blocks classified as ore. Dilution and ore loss are accounted for in the resource model blocks, and no additional ore loss or dilution is applied.

3. Mineral Reserves are presented on a 100% basis. MLCC owns the Project. LMC beneficially holds a 51% interest in MLCC and JX beneficially holds the remaining 49% interest in MLCC.

4. Tonnages are metric tonnes rounded to the nearest 100,000. Copper grade is rounded to the nearest 0.01 % Copper. CuT (Kt) are estimates of metal contained in tonnages and do not include allowances for processing losses. Contained copper is reported as kilo tonnes, rounded to the nearest 1,000.

5. Rounding of tonnes and contained metal content as required by reporting guidelines may result in apparent differences between tonnes, grade and contained metal content.

Caserones Mineral Resource estimates are reported within conceptual pit shell using a cut-off grade of 0.13% copper. Mineral Reserves for the Caserones open pit are estimated using open pit discard NSR cut-off values of $11.70/t for ore processed at concentrating and $3.65/t for ore delivered to the heap leach and SX/EW processing.

Also see EMX Company news releases dated August 17, 2021; September 3, 2021; September 14, 2021;  April 14, 2022; and June 9, 2022 for more information.

Note: Caserones is considered by EMX to be a material property. 

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