New York – October 3, 2005 – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is representing Phelps Dodge Corp. in the debt financing facilities totaling $450 million for the $850 million expansion of Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde S.A.A. (Cerro Verde) copper mine near Arequipa, Peru. The $443 million recently invested by Phelps Dodge’s partners Compania de Minas Buenaventura S.A.A. and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. and Sumitomo Corp. is the major source of equity for the project.
The expansion will allow Cerro Verde to mine a primary sulfide ore body beneath the oxide ore body currently in production. Mining of the primary sulfide ore body is scheduled to begin in late 2006 and will increase copper production from 100,000 short tons to 300,000 short tons per year when full production is achieved.
Phelps Dodge Corp., the majority owner and operator of Cerro Verde, is one of the world’s leading producers of copper and molybdenum, the largest producer of molybdenum-based chemicals and continuous-cast copper rod, and among the leading producers of magnet wire and carbon black. Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is a leading international law firm with offices in New York, Washington, D.C., London, Paris, Frankfurt, Moscow, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
The Debevoise team is led by partner Maurizio Levi-Minzi and includes partner Hugh Rowland Jr., counsel Stuart Hammer and associates Pierre Maugüé, James Grant Irving, Chi Jiang and Eva E. Riesenhuber.
