What is the estimated time line for the development of QB3 project and when will capital be directed towards it 
gorously assess and balance future opportunities for growth with providing cash returns to shareholders. And of course, we remain committed to strong environmental, social and governance performance, including setting ambitious targets to reduce our carbon intensity and be carbon neutral across all our operations by 2050.
Wrapping up on Slide 24, this is indeed a very exciting time for our industry and for Teck. There are opportunities ahead as global growth and the transition to lower-carbon economy drives a new green metal demand. We're strengthening how we operate, both through cutting-edge innovation and through improved productivity as well, as leading ESG performance. And we have a leadership team with the right mix of skills and experience to deliver on our strategy. And with that, we'd be happy to answer your questions. And like many of you, most of us are on the phone lines from home, so please bear with us if there is a delay while we sort out who will answer your questions.
So operator, back to you for questions.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
[Operator Instructions] And the first question is from Emily Chieng with Goldman Sachs. your line is open.
Emily Chieng -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst
Good morning everyone and thanks for taking the time today and Maybe coming back to your last point there on good copper growth and positioning the company for green metals. As you look beyond the start-up of QB2, and square what appears to be a very attractive supply demand outlook for copper and a very -- currently, a very supportive commodity price environment. Can you perhaps discuss what the packing order for developing some of your longer-term growth projects, including Zafranal and QB3 and some of the other satellite projects there? And maybe a potential time line before we could see capital being directed toward these?
Donald R. Lindsay -- President And Chief Executive Officer
Yes. No, excellent question because as you know, we are rich in copper resources. We have about seven projects, but not all of them will necessarily be built by Teck. So there is a few obvious ones that we're looking at very closely. Everyone knows about QB3. The fact is that QB as a resource has grown enormously, and we're crossing the eight billion tonne threshold and headed to 10 billion and beyond. So at some point in time, QB3 will just be a natural deployment of capital. But whether that is sort of a 50% expansion, a doubling of capacity or something larger like what our Chief Operating Officer, Red Conger, directed when he was at Freeport, Cerro Verde in Peru, is yet to be determined and won't be determined for some time. We're still at the -- we completed the scope study, heading to prefeasibility. So in terms of your question on time line, that one wouldn't be ready for sanction probably till early 2025. I should note that Teck itself wouldn't necessarily putting up the initial equity capital because of our deal with Sumitomo and then project finance.
So capital from Teck wouldn't come up for quite some time, maybe as long as 2027. So that leaves us open to do other things if we close. The Zafranal project, of course, has already completed its feasibility study and the initial stages of environmental permitting. We had started a sales process on that before COVID and finished the first round. Very happy with first round bids and then selected the second round participants, but then COVID hit and nobody was able to visit the site, and so we put the process on the shelf. We won't be restarting that again until midyear at the earliest. We want to get through the elections in Peru, and then take a look at what the world looks like. But the one thing we know for sure is it's worth more today than it was pre-COVID, and we have a good indication of that from the different inbound calls we get and the reason for that -- and so would San Nicolas or any of our other projects. Not only is the spot copper price that much higher, but the perception of copper demand growth because of the electrification that's going on in the world, COVID has actual
gorously assess and balance future opportunities for growth with providing cash returns to shareholders. And of course, we remain committed to strong environmental, social and governance performance, including setting ambitious targets to reduce our carbon intensity and be carbon neutral across all our operations by 2050.
Wrapping up on Slide 24, this is indeed a very exciting time for our industry and for Teck. There are opportunities ahead as global growth and the transition to lower-carbon economy drives a new green metal demand. We're strengthening how we operate, both through cutting-edge innovation and through improved productivity as well, as leading ESG performance. And we have a leadership team with the right mix of skills and experience to deliver on our strategy. And with that, we'd be happy to answer your questions. And like many of you, most of us are on the phone lines from home, so please bear with us if there is a delay while we sort out who will answer your questions.
So operator, back to you for questions.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
[Operator Instructions] And the first question is from Emily Chieng with Goldman Sachs. your line is open.
Emily Chieng -- Goldman Sachs -- Analyst
Good morning everyone and thanks for taking the time today and Maybe coming back to your last point there on good copper growth and positioning the company for green metals. As you look beyond the start-up of QB2, and square what appears to be a very attractive supply demand outlook for copper and a very -- currently, a very supportive commodity price environment. Can you perhaps discuss what the packing order for developing some of your longer-term growth projects, including Zafranal and QB3 and some of the other satellite projects there? And maybe a potential time line before we could see capital being directed toward these?
Donald R. Lindsay -- President And Chief Executive Officer
 Yes. No, excellent question because as you know, we are rich in copper resources. We have about seven projects, but not all of them will necessarily be built by Teck. So there is a few obvious ones that we're looking at very closely. Everyone knows about QB3. The fact is that QB as a resource has grown enormously, and we're crossing the eight billion tonne threshold and headed to 10 billion and beyond. So at some point in time, QB3 will just be a natural deployment of capital. But whether that is sort of a 50% expansion, a doubling of capacity or something larger like what our Chief Operating Officer, Red Conger, directed when he was at Freeport, Cerro Verde in Peru, is yet to be determined and won't be determined for some time. We're still at the -- we completed the scope study, heading to prefeasibility. So in terms of your question on time line, that one wouldn't be ready for sanction probably till early 2025. I should note that Teck itself wouldn't necessarily putting up the initial equity capital because of our deal with Sumitomo and then project finance.
So capital from Teck wouldn't come up for quite some time, maybe as long as 2027. So that leaves us open to do other things if we close. The Zafranal project, of course, has already completed its feasibility study and the initial stages of environmental permitting. We had started a sales process on that before COVID and finished the first round. Very happy with first round bids and then selected the second round participants, but then COVID hit and nobody was able to visit the site, and so we put the process on the shelf. We won't be restarting that again until midyear at the earliest. We want to get through the elections in Peru, and then take a look at what the world looks like. But the one thing we know for sure is it's worth more today than it was pre-COVID, and we have a good indication of that from the different inbound calls we get and the reason for that -- and so would San Nicolas or any of our other projects. Not only is the spot copper price that much higher, but the perception of copper demand growth because of the electrification that's going on in the world, COVID has actual