Chinalco Peru's Water Treatment Could Begin Mid-2010

Minera Chinalco Peru SA, part of Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH), could begin delayed water treatment plant operations mid-2010 after pipeline rights were pushed forward by the government, the company said Friday.

Operations at the new treatment plant, built by Chinalco Peru, stalled earlier this year after Compania Minera Volcan SAA (VOLCABC1.VL) refused to allow a 300 meter pipeline to cross its land.

A decree passed by congress Thursday approved seizure by the state of about 3,500 square meters of land from Volcan.

A spokesman for Chinalco said the seizure order should now force Volcan to sign an agreement allowing pipeline construction to go ahead.

The Chinalco plant will treat water polluted by mining operations in the Morococha area of Peru's central highland region of Junin. Up to now the polluted water has been dumped into local rivers.

Chinalco Peru, which has invested $34 million building the treatment plant, owns the rights to the Toromocho copper project, also in the Junin region.

Chinalco expects to invest $2.15 billion in the Toromocho project, and to be producing 250,000 metric tons of copper annually by 2012.

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