Fluor Awarded USD700M+ Contract by Minera Escondida

Fluor has been awarded a contract worth more than USD700M+ to provide engineering, procurement and construction management services on a project to process marginal ore at the world's largest operating copper mine in northern Chile. The contract was awarded by Minera Escondida, a Chilean joint-venture mining company owned by an international consortium led by BHP Billiton. Fluor is executing the work out of its offices in Santiago, Chile.

The project will allow use of a proprietary leaching process on marginal run-of-mine sulphide ore from the existing Escondida pit, located 100 miles from the port city of Antofagasta, and a second, nearby pit currently in development. The resulting leachate will be further treated by project-supplied solvent extraction and electrowinning facilities to produce copper cathodes that will be exported to customers.

Production is planned to begin in the second half of 2006. Also included in the project is a seawater desalination plant and pipeline that will provide additional process water to the Escondida mine site. The plant will be located at Minera Escondida's existing port facility near Antofagasta.

The project is the latest in a series of projects awarded to Fluor since the company was commissioned to design and build the original mine and processing plant in 1988.

BHP Billiton manages the Escondida operation on behalf of an international consortium, which is made up of BHP Billiton with 57.5 percent ownership, Rio Tinto with 30 percent, JECO with 10 percent and International Finance Corporation with 2.5 percent.