Halo Minerals has secured a mining permit for its proposed Playa Verde copper and gold tailings reprocessing project at Chañaral in northern Chile. The permit, granted to wholly owned subsidiary Minera Playa Verde SpA under Article 17 No. 1 of the Chilean Mining Code, authorises mining works associated with dredging mineral-bearing material from the beach, including within the urban area. The approval does not amount to a final investment decision or permission to commence the complete processing operation.
Exempt Resolution No. 473 was issued by the Provincial Presidential Delegation of Chañaral. The Regional Ministerial Secretariat for Housing and Urban Development in Atacama, known as MINVU, raised no objection to the authorisation. Halo disclosed the decision on 23 October following its application earlier in the year. The resolution addresses a specific legal requirement for working in the beach and urban areas; approvals for other aspects of the project remain separate.
Playa Verde is designed to recover copper from historic mine tailings deposited at Chañaral beach. The proposed operation would dredge mineral-bearing sand and transfer it to a metallurgical plant, producing copper cathodes and concentrates before returning treated and conditioned material to the beach. This planned return route is part of the environmental and processing design, but its performance has yet to be demonstrated through a commercial operating plant.
Dredging presents different engineering constraints from conventional hard-rock mining. The planned material consists of unconsolidated historic deposits rather than rock requiring drilling and blasting. Halo’s engineering assessment describes an electrically driven dredging wheel working within a controlled pond and extracting material through a managed sequence of lanes. The process is intended to maintain continuity of feed to the plant while limiting material handling, although water management, access and the condition of the returned tailings remain important operational controls.
The proposed plant would combine acid leaching, solvent extraction and electrowinning with flotation. Leaching brings acid-soluble copper into a process solution; solvent extraction separates and concentrates it before electrowinning deposits cathode metal. Flotation would recover copper-bearing sulphide minerals through a separate concentrate stream. Halo’s 16 October engineering assessment models an overall recovery of approximately 72%. That is a project assumption, not a measured recovery rate from an operating Playa Verde plant.
The 16 October updated Competent Person’s Report declared 33.94 million tonnes of Ore Reserves grading approximately 0.25% copper and a Mineral Resource of 53.44 million tonnes at 0.24% copper. The resource figure includes the reserves and must not be added to them. The report’s Ore Reserve base case uses an initial capital estimate of US$92.8 million, an after-tax net present value at a 10% discount rate of US$174.3 million, and an estimated internal rate of return of 45.6%. Each figure is conditional on commodity prices, project costs, metallurgical performance and construction assumptions.
The project plan assumes extraction and processing at approximately five million tonnes per year across an initial period of about seven years. The engineering work identifies sulphuric acid as a major operating cost and considers procurement arrangements that could change its delivered price. The stated capital estimate also assumes a third-party dredging service rather than buying all dredging equipment outright. These choices affect the economics, particularly before final supplier contracts and financing terms are agreed.
The regulatory process also includes the project’s environmental assessment. The October permit records a favourable assessment dated 15 October 2025, while the company acknowledges the need to obtain further authorisations. It has submitted an application for a mining easement and is progressing a maritime concession. Neither has been identified as granted in the 23 October disclosure, and their terms will influence access and operations at the site.
Working at a beach beside an urban community places operational constraints on extraction and materials handling. The development plan must manage dredging activity, water, reagents, tailings conditioning and the return of processed material under the relevant approvals. Halo envisages environmental benefits from treating legacy tailings, but these depend on a completed plant, effective control measures and ongoing monitoring. No remediation result or production output has yet been achieved by the proposed operation.
Halo’s September development update set out the remaining preparation for an investment decision, including engineering optimisation, equipment quotations, reagent procurement, community engagement and financing. The new Article 17 approval clears one permission needed for beach dredging but does not settle those commercial and technical requirements. Halo expects a response on the mining easement in the coming weeks; that remains a company forecast.
The construction timetable also remains conditional. A May filing contemplated possible site works before the end of 2026 if approvals were secured. The October resolution does not confirm contractor mobilisation, a financing close or a revised start date. The practical sequence still requires outstanding land and maritime permissions, completed procurement and a decision to commit capital to the project.
The 23 October permit therefore allows Halo to progress a defined part of the Playa Verde mining works while the broader development remains uncommitted. Its next disclosed decisions will concern the easement and maritime concession, project finance and the final investment decision. Until those steps are complete and the plant has been built and commissioned, copper production, cash flow and environmental performance remain projections from the engineering assessment.
