The Copper Mountain mine, in British Columbia, has delivered a solid performance in the second quarter, with production increasing by 13% year-on-year, the operation’s eponymous owner reported on Thursday.
The mine produced 23.1-million pounds of copper equivalent, including 20-million pounds of copper, 6 500 oz of gold and 68 400 oz of silver. The June quarter’s production was in line with first-quarter output.
"The operation performed well during the quarter, with production higher year over year. Copper Mountain is demonstrating consistent and solid production and we are on track to achieve annual guidance," said president and CEO Gil Clausen.
The mine is expected to produce about 80-million pounds of copper in 2018.
Copper Mountain Mining expects production in the second half of the year to be stronger than the first half of the year, as production was marginally impacted in the second quarter by a reduction in mill throughput as a result of the replacement of two mill transformers and a semiautogenous (SAG) mill liner change.
During the June quarter, the company accelerated the installation of two oil filled transformers for the SAG mill, which are expected to be commissioned by the end of this month. The mine would have two spare dry transformers for the remaining four ball mill transformers in service. Copper Mountain Mining said that it would replace the remaining four dry transformers with four oil filled transformers systematically during planned maintenance periods over the next year.