Canadian tailings reprocessor Cerro de Pasco awarded rights to Peruvian site
Cerro de Pasco Resources has been awarded through a public auction the rights to tailings held in the Quiulacocha tailings storage facility, in Peru, for economic reprocessing.
The Sale Committee of Activos Mineros (AMSAC) awarded the mineral rights and surface rights over the tailings to Cerro de Pasco’s subsidiary in Peru, which, once definitively executed, will enable the company to consolidate the tailings with its 100%-owned El Metalurgista concession.
AMSAC, as the Peruvian State-owned entity responsible for the remediation of legacy mining environmental liabilities, is allowed to transfer accumulated mining waste or tailings from its closure and remediation projects to the private sector for economic use.
The Quiulacocha tailings host a polymetallic mineral inventory that includes several critical minerals, and their reprocessing is expected to contribute to the supply of critical minerals while addressing one of Peru’s largest legacy mining environmental liabilities.
While definitive agreements with AMSAC are progressing, Cerro de Pasco continues to advance a comprehensive technical programme at Quiulacocha, which will lead toward a maiden mineral resource estimate and feasibility-level studies.
The company’s El Metalurgista concession hosts silver-rich tailings and stockpiles which accumulated from more than a century of mining in one of the most prolific polymetallic districts in the Americas.
Cerro de Pasco’s strategy is to reprocess historic mining waste to recover value while addressing the long-term environmental liabilities associated with these tailings.