Karachipampa Lead/Silver Smelter Project

The Karachipampa Lead/Silver Smelter is located in Potosi, Bolivia. It was constructed during the period 1985 thru 1988 by Corporacion Minera de Bolivia (COMIBOL) and was never fired due to a lack of lead concentrate production in Bolivia. A total of $180 million have been expended on the facility to date by COMIBOL. The plant has been on care and maintenance since completion and is in ‘new condition’. It was designed and constructed by Klockner, a German engineering and construction firm, with design based on state-of-the-art Russian Kivcet technology. This technology is in common use around the world with two of the most important users being the Cominco Trail Smelter in British Columbia and the Glencore Porto Vesme Smelter on the island of Sardenia, Italy.

The zinc smelter is to be constructed by Atlas Precious Metals Inc. at its cost and the existing smelter will be included in the Joint Venture by COMIBOL. Atlas Precious Metals Inc. will participate to 65% JV interest and COMIBOL 35%. APMI will own the newly constructed facilities and COMIBOL will retain ownership of the existing smelter.

The existing Karachipampa Lead/Silver smelter has an installed capacity of 51,100 tons per annum of lead/silver concentrates with all fume being recycled back to the Kivcet furnace for re-smelting. When the zinc smelter is completed, all fume will go to the zinc leach cycle and primary capacity of Karachipampa will increase to 62,000 tons per annum. 25,000 tons per annum of the primary Kivcet feed will originate from the zinc circuit as leach residuals, containing 24% zinc and 20% lead with all silver from zinc smelting.

The combined smelter will produce 70,000 tons per annum of high grade zinc slabs, 30,000 tons per annum of lead ingots and approximately 10 million ounces per annum of silver. It will also recover gold, cadmium, bismuth, copper, tin and a number of other metals. It will produce 140,000 tons per annum of sulfuric acid which will initially be sold out of the country and eventually be used to produce boric acid from the Solar Uyuni ulexites, as well as sodium sulfate and gypsum, with the chemical plants being owned 100% by Atlas Precious Metals Inc..

The Karachipampa Smelter will smelt 100% of the production of 68 Cooperatives employing over 4,000 workers on Cerro Rico, the richest silver deposit in the world, located within 10 kilometers of the smelter. Atlas Precious Metals Inc. believes that with judicial investment and technical advice, production from Cerro Rico will reach 65,000 tons per year of zinc concentrate and 20,000 tpa of lead/silver concentrate within one year.