Cal Norte

CAL NORTE LIME PROJECT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION

South American Gold and Copper Company "SAGC" has been operating in Chile since 1991. Its common stock is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol of "SAG"

Chile suffers from a lack of well-located high grade limestone deposits. In recognition of this shortage and the fact that there exists substantial growth opportunities for the consumption of burnt lime in Chile particularly in the mining industry, SAGC has refocused part of its exploration activities and knowledge of the Chilean mining industry to identify potential burnt lime projects.

While SAGC has to date identified four potential market areas, this Executive Summary will concentrate on its most advanced burnt lime project, Cal Norte, which will have a capacity of 150 tpd of kiln product with the potential of being expanded to 300 tpd by 2004.

Quicklime (lime), often referred to as burnt lime is produced by heating limestone to a temperature where the CaCO3 disassociates to from lime (CaO) and carbon dioxide (CO2 ).

THE CHILEAN BURNT LIME MARKET can be summarized as follows:

  • The demand for burnt lime (CaO) in Chile is growing and presently exceeds 1,022,000 tpy. The mining industry in Chile currently consumes approximately 527,000 tpy (1999) basically supplied by private producers, with the balance primarily taken up by the pulp, paper and sugar industries, which own their own captive lime plants. The demand for metallurgical grade burnt lime, based on new mines and mine expansion plans in progress, is expected to increase by an additional 251,000 tpy in just the Central Regions (Regions IV, V, VI and the Metropolitan Region) which are the focus of this Executive Summary. Due to the shortage of well located high grade limestone deposits in the Central Region, approximately 50,000 (1999) of lime is being imported from Argentina at high transport cost and over a road which can be adversely effected during the winter months. These importations from Argentina are expected to increase to 100,000 tpy in 2000.
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