Santiago, April 2025 – How to achieve greater efficiency, lower environmental impact, and higher profitability in mining projects were the topics recently addressed during a panel led by Ausenco at the World Copper Summit 2025. Held as part of Cesco Week, this is one of the most relevant events in the mining industry, bringing together experts and representatives from around the world.
Experts from Ausenco were joined by key clients from leading mining companies including Antofagasta Minerals and Teck Resources for a panel discussion on the technical and strategic factors shaping the success of today’s copper projects.
Matt Pyle, Chief Technical Officer at Ausenco, opened the discussion by emphasizing the need to approach projects by planning processes, commissioning, and closure. “We need to move away from the traditional model to make the path more efficient. We have to address all risks that may arise during the execution phase and define who is best qualified to address them. There is an opportunity to bring different teams into the process during early stages,” he stated.
The expert also emphasized that effective collaboration between clients and engineering teams is essential to developing high-performing and capital-efficient copper projects.
In this regard, María Paz Núñez, Vice President of Ausenco Chile, agreed that “collaboration between parties, agile execution, and innovation are what will allow us to achieve successful projects. An example of this work is the Mantoverde project, which thanks to its innovative plant layout, reduced its footprint by 35% compared to similar mining projects in Chile.”
Teck’s Executive Vice President and Chief Project Development Officer, Karla Mills, highlighted the importance of investing time in early-stage decision-making and project construction. “To me, what stood out the most from the panel is how aligned we are in what success looks like and what we need to achieve it. It was very interesting to see how all the stages are connected: from the initial studies, execution planning, to operations. The key elements are always the same: it’s about people, innovation, being aligned, and trusting each other,” she said.
Meanwhile, Patricia Downing, Vice President of the Nueva Centinela Project at Antofagasta Minerals, acknowledged that it is very valuable to share experiences and reflect on the need to improve how projects or business cases are effectively carried out. “Having these spaces to exchange learnings and different ways of doing things is really important,” she noted, adding that “since the world has changed, it’s essential to have certainty by engaging experienced teams during the early concept through feasibility stages.”
The panel led by Ausenco brought concrete solutions to the table to address the challenges faced by the mining industry. One of the main conclusions was that all players are aligned in the need to deliver successful projects, and there is consensus on how to achieve that: early planning and collaboration.
Relevant projects
One recent example of a successful project is Capstone Copper’s Mantoverde, executed by Ausenco, which stands out for its innovative and cost-efficient design. An optimized and unique plant layout reduced the project’s overall footprint by 35% compared to typical designs in Chile, minimizing land use, steel, and concrete and lowering environmental impact. In addition, the construction costs of the Mantoverde copper plant are approximately half those of similar projects in the region.
This is part of Ausenco’s unique design and delivery approach, “delivering a different solution to our clients, showing them that there is a different way of doing things, aligned with the new times the industry is experiencing. Today, what is most valued is a company that provides safety and guarantees in terms of schedules and costs. That’s what we’re delivering, and we’re aiming to continue supporting our clients with a different proposal and through execution projects,” said María Paz Núñez.
Some of the projects the company is currently involved in include the optimization of the Mantoverde Project and the Santo Domingo Project by Capstone Copper in Chile, and the Zafranal Project by Teck Resources in Peru.
About Ausenco
Ausenco is a global company redefining what's possible. The team is based out of 21 offices working across five continents to deliver services worldwide. Combining deep technical expertise with a 30-year track record, Ausenco delivers innovative, value-add consulting, studies, project delivery, asset operations and maintenance solutions to the minerals and metals and industrial sectors (www.ausenco.com).