COBRE LAS CRUCES: STRATEGIC METALS FOR A GREEN AND DIGITAL EUROPE
Cobre Las Cruces is a hydrometallurgical mining complex located across the municipalities of Gerena, Salteras and Guillena, with facilities in La Algaba, in the province of Seville. It stands as one of the leading references in the international mining industry.
The company represents a before and after in one of humanity’s oldest activities — both for its pivotal role in the revival of metal mining in Spain and for its technological innovations.
It is one of the largest private investments made in Andalusia over the past three decades (over €1.1 billion to date), and the largest single-project international capital investment in the province of Seville.
Equally significant is its local impact, both in terms of job creation and through the direct, indirect and induced effects on the economic development of a predominantly rural area.
Project history
From 2009 to 2023, Cobre Las Cruces operated an open-pit mine at a facility that, in addition to the mining pit itself, includes a hydrometallurgical plant producing refined copper with a purity of 99.999%.
It was the first installation of its kind in operation in Europe and the project’s most significant technological innovation. Average annual production since 2009 has been approximately 70,000 tonnes.
In 2020, the initial ore reserves were exhausted. However, between 2021 and 2023, CLC maintained active copper production through the reprocessing of ore extracted and treated during the early years of operation, which still retained a significant recoverable metal content. Since July 2023, the hydrometallurgical plant has been in a care and maintenance phase.
The company is now working towards the launch of a new mining and metallurgical project known as the PMR (Polymetallurgical Refinery). A new polymetallic ore body, located beneath the current one, will be exploited through underground mining.
A new polymetallurgical refinery will be built to produce not only copper, but also zinc, lead and silver, all as base metals. It will be the first metallurgical plant in the world with these combined capabilities. The project has been designated a European Strategic Project by the European Commission for its contribution to strategic autonomy in mineral raw materials.
The PMR will require an investment of over €850 million and is expected to support at least 20 years of activity, creating approximately 900 direct and indirect jobs, plus a further 1,500 induced positions.