Apr. 18 – The Astaldi Group has been awarded a contract in Chile amounting to €117 million for the construction of a new branch of the Chuquicamata mining project, in which Astaldi is already running a first phase of underground works. Chuquicamata is now the largest open pit mine in the world, for which the Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile (Codelco) provides a comprehensive $3.8 billion investment plan for its transformation into an underground mine. In this context, the initiative awarded to Astaldi involves the construction of 11 kilometers of tunnels, as well as additional works related to the existing mining complex. The work will start in May, with a duration of 26 months. Codelco, the Chilean state historic firm and today the largest producer of copper in the world, specifically assigned to the Astaldi Group this task, as the group is already carrying out two major mining contracts: a first $155 million phase for the Chuquicamata Project; and the Relaves Project for the construction and operation under concession of a treatment plant for sludge produced by the Andina Mine for copper and molybdenum recovery ($34 million investment and to $230 million concession revenues). Astaldi Group has been present in Chile since 2008, where it also operates in the hydroelectric sector and has been a member for 27.3% of the dealership that has built and now operates the Chacayes hydroelectric plant (111MW), in partnership with the Australian Pacific Hydro.
