WOODY vs. Marimaca Copper: Cost Analysis of the 2025 Definitive Feasibility Study

Marimaca Copper’s 2025 Definitive Feasibility Study (FS) for the Marimaca Copper Project presents a lean cost profile for a project in Chile’s Antofagasta Region, one of the world’s most established but logistically demanding copper mining districts. With reported capital costs of US$1,045M and operating costs of US$11.86/ore tonne, the study’s process-area reporting structure is common in technical reports but can obscure the full cost burden of operating in a remote, arid environment with significant water and power infrastructure requirements.

Costmine Intelligence used WOODY, our proprietary benchmarking platform, to replicate Marimaca’s core assumptions and generate capital and operating estimates based on current market rates, location-adjusted inputs, and a fully scoped cost structure. WOODY integrates labor, equipment, materials, energy, and indirects, applying consistent logic to categories often minimized in feasibility-stage estimates, such as construction management, owner’s costs, and escalation.

The result: WOODY estimates operating costs at US$18.35/ore tonne, a 55% divergence from Marimaca’s reported figure, driven by the inclusion of indirect labor, detailed maintenance, site services, and full overhead structures. On capital, WOODY’s estimate of US$978M compares to Marimaca’s scoped figure of US$1,045M, a gap of approximately 6%, well within normal benchmarking variance.

This analysis underscores the value of benchmarking feasibility-stage estimates against an independently built model. Process-area reporting and optimistic indirect cost assumptions can introduce blind spots into execution planning, funding strategies, and investor communications.

Fill out the form to access the full Excel file, which includes line-by-line WOODY capital cost outputs, an operating cost breakdown by category, direct comparisons with Marimaca’s disclosed figures, core modeling assumptions, and life-of-mine cumulative cost comparisons.

Whether you’re evaluating a development-stage asset, reviewing a feasibility study, or assessing investment risk, this file provides a transparent, apples-to-apples view of how internal estimates compare to independently benchmarked project costs.