Grupo México plans to start Buenavista Zinc operations in 2022, postponing the start date of this project, which had been previously scheduled for 2021.
This project is located within the Buenavista deposit in Sonora and consists of the construction of a concentrator with a production capacity of 80,000 tons of zinc and an additional 20,000 tons of copper per year.
As of today, the company has already completed basic engineering and detailed engineering is in process.
Grupo México has started the preparation of the deposit and orders to buy machinery and equipment have begun to be processed.
Grupo México: financial Results
This investment has a budget of $ 413 million and is expected to begin operating in the third quarter of 2022.
Upon completion of this new concentrator, Grupo México’s zinc production capacity will double to 160,000 tons and it is estimated that it will generate 490 direct jobs and 1,470 indirect jobs.
Grupo México
Approximately, the deposit contains 102.6 million mineralized material containing 1.88% zinc, 0.47% copper, and 17 grams of silver per ton.
As early as 2016, Grupo México reviewed the geological model of the deposit and the lithological description of previous drilling holes, which were analyzed using infrared spectrometry. The results were included in the reserve database.
Operadora de Minas e Instalaciones Mineras S.A. de C.V. (“OMIMSA”), operates Buenavista, previously called Cananea, an open-pit copper mine located in one of the largest copper ore deposits in the world, a copper concentrator and two ESDE plants.
The Buenavista mine was operated until December 11, 2010 by Mexicana de Cananea and Buenavista del Cobre from that date until July 2011. Buenavista OMIMSA, owns the Cananea mine, Sonora, which is the operating copper mine. It continues to be the oldest in North America, with operations dating back to 1899.