Santo Domingo, Chile / Copper and cobalt
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Santo Domingo is a high grade, fully permitted copper–iron ore project in Chile, owned and operated by Capstone Copper.
Development
Copper and cobalt
Capstone Copper
Chile
Royalty rate and type
2% NSR
Balance sheet classification
Royalty Intangible
Key facts
118 tonnes
Average annual production expected to be ~118t of copper, 4.2kt of 65% pellet feed iron ore concentrate
19 years
mine life with extension potential
Water
Santo Domingo will use desalinated water, minimising water stress in an arid environment.
The Group owns a 2.0% NSR royalty over the Santo Domingo project. The Company’s royalty area covers the highest copper grade portion of the mine plan which is expected to be mined during the initial six to seven years of production.
Average annual production is expected to be approximately 118Kt of copper and 4.2Kt of 65% pellet feed iron ore concentrate. Total reserves are estimated to be 392Mt at 0.30% copper grade (as per the Capstone Copper Santo Domingo Project Technical Report) with an expected mine life of 19 years.
Capstone Copper has also identified a meaningful cobalt opportunity that has the potential to turn Santo Domingo into one of the world’s largest and lowest cost cobalt producers. Cobalt production over the life of mine is forecast to total 10.4Mlbs per annum, the credits of which reduce the total mine’s C1 cash costs per pound of payable copper to $1.56 on a by-product basis.
Copper and cobalt are commodities that will be central to the energy transition. Capstone Copper has extensive experience constructing copper mines in Chile and there will be considerable cost efficiencies to be had by integrating with the nearby Capstone-operated Mantoverde mine. The project has strong sustainability credentials, for example using desalinated water from the Mantoverde desalination plant.
Published an Updated Feasibility Study that confirmed Santo Domingo as one of the leading, fully permitted, greenfield copper projects in the Americas.
- Capstone plans to identify financing partners in 2025.
- Further optimisation and exploration work set to continue.
- Potential project sanctioning decision from Q1 2026.