Hierro Atacama Concentrator iron ore mine

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The Hierro Atacama Concentrator is located in the Atacama region of Chile. It is majority owned by the vertically integrated Chilean steel producer Compañía de Acero del Pacífico (CAP) and operated by an owned subsidiary, Compañía Minera del Pacífico (CMP). The concentrator started producing in 2008 and primarily uses tailings from the Freeport Candelaria copper mine. Since 2011 it has also processed some tailings from the Los Colorados mine. The tailings from both Candelaria and Los Colorados are extremely low in iron, resulting in low mass recovery rates. Therefore, the cost of processing this material to a saleable quality product is very high. Due to falling iron ore prices at the end of 2015, CAP suspended operations at Hierro Atacama Concentrator in December 2015. Three months later, in March 2016, CAP announced it was resuming operations at the plant due to improved market conditions.