Cobre Las Cruces to invest 40 million euros in mining waste recovery

Cobre Las Cruces is launching a circular economy project to recover precious metals from mining waste at its complex in Gerena, Spain. The initiative, known as the Gossan project, involves a 40 million euro investment to reprocess approximately 2.6 million tons of gossan—the natural cap covering pyritic deposits—currently stored at the facilities.

Scheduled for production between 2027 and 2030, the project aims to treat roughly 1.2 million tons annually to produce 105,000 tons of marketable concentrate containing gold, silver, and lead. This effort serves as a precursor to the company’s larger industrial goal: the new polymetallic refinery (PMR), which has been declared a Strategic Project by the European Commission.

Beyond metal recovery, the project is intended to reduce stored waste volumes, facilitate environmental restoration, and free up storage space to allow for the continued filling of the mining void. The company expects the project to create approximately 320 jobs and stimulate activity among local suppliers and contractors.