Freeport to seek permit for $7.5 billion mine expansion, Chilean media reports

SANTIAGO, March 19 (Reuters) - U.S. miner Freeport-McMoRan is due to begin the process of obtaining an environmental permit for a $7.5 billion expansion of its El Abra copper mine in Chile, newspaper Diario Financiero reported late Wednesday.

The project is a joint venture between the company and the state-owned copper giant Codelco.

Freeport announced its intended El Abra expansion, which it had postponed for years, in mid-2024 and said it expected to begin the process of obtaining the necessary environmental permits between late 2025 and early 2026.

The project involves the construction of a concentrator and a desalination plant, expected to start operations in the coming decade.