Polish copper company and Australian firm join forces in Chile

Poland's KGHM copper mining company will team up with South32, an Australian firm, at its Sierra Gorda copper mine in Chile, KGHM announced on Tuesday.

South32 will replace KGHM's previous partners - Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd and Sumitomo Corporation - on the Sierra Gorda project.

KGHM CEO Marcin Chludziński said the Sierra Gorda mine had needed restructuring and was now beginning to bring profits. He added that the past three years had seen management and organisation changes at the mine, which helped raise it efficiency.

"Sierra Gorda is a demanding but very satisfying project. We have put in a lot of effort and attention to reverse some deep-rooted trends, and the mine's results after three years of our intensive work are impressive," he said.

KGHM said in a report that its revised EBITDA for nine months of last year was up over PLN 3.3 billion (EUR 730 million) year on year, which the company, to a considerable extent, owed to the Sierra Gorda mine.

South32 is a global metal and mineral mining company headquartered in Perth and has plants in Australia, South Africa and South America.