BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, JECO and JECO 2 Minera Escondida Copper Mine

Historic Project: Groundbreaking Work From Earlier in Fluor’s History

Client: BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, JECO and JECO 2 Ltd.

Location: Chile

Business Segments: Energy SolutionsUrban Solutions

Industries: Mining & MetalsFuels

Map showing the location of BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, JECO and JECO 2 Minera Escondida Copper Mine

Executive Summary

Fluor delivered multiple projects at the Escondida mine, 3,200 meters above sea level in the Chilean Andes Mountains.

Escondida, operated by BHP Billiton, was the birthplace of large-scale mining projects for Fluor in Chile and a major portion of our history in South America. During that period, we provided studies, engineering, procurement, construction management and technical services to the owners of the world's largest copper producing mine.

Minera Escondida is an example of Fluor's global leadership in executing large-scale, complex projects in remote parts of the world.

The first Fluor project at Minera Escondida commenced in 1986, and subsequent projects were valued at more than $2 billion in capital investment. We built the original Escondida copper concentrator plant and all support infrastructure, including the Coloso port near the city of Antofagasta. Escondida commenced production in mid-1990.

Escondida, operated by BHP Billiton, later awarded Fluor a series of large expansion projects and new standalone projects that covered the huge complex and the port facility. All the projects were delivered to established project baselines, and Chilean and/or industry-wide safety records were achieved on each one of them.

The massive plant to produce copper cathodes through an oxide leaching, solvent extraction and electrowinning process was the first mining & minerals recipient of Fluor's prestigious Hugh Coble Project Excellence Award. The award is based on outstanding performance in several areas, including safety, value creation and client and community relations.

Client's Challenge

Minera Escondida is owned by BHP Billiton (57.5%), Rio Tinto (30%), JECO Corporation (10%),and JECO 2 LTD (2.5%).

BHP Billiton operates Escondida and is the world's largest natural resources company, with head offices in Australia. It is organized as nine divisions: petroleum, aluminum, base metals, metallurgical coal, iron ore, manganese, diamonds and specialized products, energy coal and stainless steel materials, which together total around 100 operations, in addition to the corporate offices on each continent. One of these divisions, Base Metals, has its headquarters in Chile. BHP Billiton has been the major shareholder and operator of Escondida since before operations began.

Rio Tinto, a company of British origin, is one of the largest natural resources companies in the world. It operates eight divisions: iron ore, energy, industrial minerals, aluminum, copper, diamonds, technology and exploration. Rio Tinto is involved in more than 60 operations in various countries.

JECO Corporation and JECO 2 LTD are two Japanese consortiums that are formed by Mitsubishi Corporation, JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation and Mitsubishi Materials Corporation. Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) is Japan's largest general trading company with over 200 bases of operations in approximately 80 countries worldwide.

BHP Billiton Minera Escondida Copper Mine Facility in Landscape

Fluor's Solution

We delivered more than 45 projects at the Minera Escondida mine site and offsites in Chile. These included feasibility studies, engineering, procurement and construction management of major processing facilities, pipelines, ports and infrastructure. The following were highlights of some of the more complex engineering, procurement, and construction management projects at Minera Escondida, all of which were delivered to the established project baselines, and all of which achieved outstanding safety records.

We built the original copper mine, processing plant, support infrastructure and the Coloso port near the city of Antofagasta. The project in the Andes Mountains included a copper concentrator, crushing and conveying systems, a camp and onsite facilities and a 200-km power transmission line. A 167-kilometer copper concentrate pipeline, filtering and port loadout were also part of the original project.

BHP Billiton Minera Escondida Copper Mine Pipeline

Our first project at the mine commenced in 1986, and production began on site in mid-1990. Phase 1 and 2 expansion projects raised the mine and concentrator capacity to 60,000 metric tons per day (tpd) by the end of 1994. Phase 3 expanded the concentrator's capacity by 60,000 tpd to 115,000 tpd, and the scope included in-pit crushing, conveying, grinding, flotation, tailings disposal and process water facilities; a new 165-kilometer pipeline; and an expansion to the filter plant at the port site.

We provided engineering, procurement and construction management services for the cathode copper ammonia leach and electrowinning plant located at the Coloso Port, which treated concentrate produced at the mine site. We provided engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services on the Oxide Leach Project completed in 1998. The facility produced 125,000 tpy of cathode copper.

Our safety record included 3.75 million safe work hours on two occasions. This project was the first mining & minerals project to receive Fluor's prestigious Project Excellence Award. The Sulphide Leach Project was completed in 2006, one month ahead of schedule and within 1.5 percent of our feasibility study estimate. New technological developments allowed Escondida to process low-grade ore.

As part of the Sulphide Leach Project, Escondida pioneered the use of desalination for process water in this arid region of Chile. Water supply originates from the 500-litre-per-second desalination plant constructed by Fluor at the Escondida port site in Coloso. Water is pumped through a 24-inch, 167-kilometer pipeline with four intermediate 12,000-horsepower pumping stations on the route from sea level at the port to an altitude of 3,200 meters at the mine site. During construction of Sulphide Leach, the project achieved 7 million hours without an OSHA lost-time incident, a Chilean record.

BHP Billiton Minera Escondida Copper Mine Offshore Platform

Conclusion

Fluor is proud of our long history at Minera Escondida during which projects worth over $2 billion have been designed and constructed for the mine. The grassroots copper concentrator (Phase 0) was followed by expansion projects throughout the years that increased capacity of the mine and introduced new technologies to improve operational efficiency.

A Fluor subsidiary continued to contribute to mining operations. Many leaders in the mining engineering and construction industry have honed their skills on these Fluor projects, and the projects have helped Minera Escondida's owners to increase mine production to the highest in the world.