click for satellite view

^{As at December 31, 2007.}

Cerattepe is a small but high grade copper sulphide deposit located approximately 100 kilometres east of our Çayeli mine in Northeastern Turkey, near the town of Artvin in Artvin province. It sits at an elevation of 1,700 metres.

Cerattepe expects to mine very high grade ore at a rate of approximately 290,000 tonnes per year. Trucks will take the ore to our nearby Çayeli mill for processing.

Since August 2006, Cerattepe has been affected by a ruling of the local Erzurum Administrative Court that stated that government authorities had incorrectly exempted the operating licences for the property from environmental assessment regulations.

In April, the Danistay (Turkish Administrative Supreme Court) directed the local court to review its decision on procedural grounds and reinstated the validity of the licences. In June, the local court confirmed its agreement with the Danistay’s decision. The plaintiff has refiled applications to have the licences cancelled, and has also made applications to stop work on the property and to cancel a lease of the land on which the bottom ropeway terminus will be located. We have applied to join the proceedings as an intervenor and together with the Turkish Ministry of Engery and Natural Resources have filed defences to the applications which we continue to believe are without merit. Subject to the outcome of the legal proceedings, we will continue to move the project forward with a view to starting production by the end of the first quarter of 2009.

An active campaign of community dialogue and engagement continues to solidify support for the project. Following additional engineering and vendor quotations, we updated our capital and operating costs for Cerattepe as follows:

• Total capital costs of US $87 million, which includes US $21 million for a mill expansion at Çayeli.
• Operating costs of US $65 per tonne, including transportation and processing.
• Unit cash costs of US $0.72 per pound of copper.

All the necessary permits are in place to begin construction on the site, three critical components of the project are now underway:

Underground rehabilitation and development
Work on the decline was completed and the ramp was extended toward the ore zone.  Development will continue in 2008 with anticipation of reaching the orebody in the first quarter of 2009.

Aerial tramway
We have selected the contractor to design, supply and install the ropeway. Engineering has begun and the tramway should be installed by the end of 2008.

Çayeli mill expansion
This is the single largest cost related to the project. The mill needs to increase its capacity from 1.2 million tonnes per year to 1.5 million tonnes per year. This requires a new grinding and flotation section as well as a small SAG mill and a ball mill. Basic engineering has been completed.

We completed geotechnical investigations at the mine site and we continue to maintain an active campaign of community dialogue and engagement to reinforce support for the project.

quick links

Download the Cerattepe section from our 2007 annual review for the most recent update.

Latest news
Access any of our news releases in this section