Polymetallic – Grupo México
Mineral treatment plant in Seville
Spain
Minera Los Frailes, a subsidiary of Grupo México – a world-class corporation, a leader in the international mining sector, working for over 80 years in Mexico, the United States of America and Peru – was the winner of the international tender in 2015 for the exploitation of the Aznalcóllar polymetallic mining deposit (Seville), which will be active for around 25 years. With an expected investment of €350 million, the mining project involving 4 phases: 1) investigation, exploration, permitting; 2) construction, planned to commence in early 2019; 3) exploitation, for about 17 years; 4) and finally, the closure, decommissioning and rehabilitation of the environment, which can last up to 5 years.
Grupo México, a world leader in the mining sector, is currently working on the reopening of the Aznalcóllar Mining Complex in Seville, Spain.
The site, with an area of almost 950 hectares, is located at the eastern end of the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB) considered the largest European reserve of polymetallic sulphides (copper, lead and zinc, gold and silver), with probable reserves and resources of about 80 Mt. There are two open cuts, Aznalcóllar and Los Frailes, partially exploited using open-pit excavation between 1975 and 2001.
The exploitation design for the mine meets the highest technical and environmental requirements. Mining for the extraction will be underground, minimizing the environmental footprint and generation of waste, using the method known as cutting and filling (longhole stopping). Two outstanding aspects of the environmental sustainability of the project are water and waste management. The mine will be self-sufficient (rainwater collection) in the water used, water from outside will not be required. The tailings and derived sludge will be reused in the mine (chamber filling, Corta de Aznalcóllar and Northwest debris).
The scope of the engineering services that Minera los Frailes has contracted from IDOM includes the development of the Basic engineering and the Evaluation and Determination of the CapEx of the projects of the Mineral Treatment Plant, Primary Crushing and Pasta Plant, capable of processing 2.7 million tons/year of ore to obtain, in differing concentrations, Zinc, Lead and Copper concentrates. The engineering complies with the precision standards according to the alignments indicated by the Canadian norm NI 43-101 for feasibility studies.
