The Cozamin mine, the foundation upon which Canadian base metals miner Capstone Mining has been built, is set for a 30% production increase by the end of 2020, at an investment of less than $5-million.

Production is currently constrained by the mine’s ability to deliver ore to the surface, but Capstone said on Monday that a materials handling study had identified the main bottleneck and that it had identified several solutions to raise production to match the nameplate mill capacity.

The miner explained that it planned to transform the Mexico-based mine’s haulage network from a two-way single ramp to a one-way ramp loop by connecting an existing main ramp to a planned ramp with a short drift. The future one-way haulage loop would be completed by the end of 2020.

Throughput would then rise to 3 780 t/d, resulting in a yearly production increase of between 40-million and 45-million pounds.

Capstone’s confidence in Cozmin has been boosted by a significant increase in probable and proven reserves to 6.2-million tonnes, grading 1.6% copper.

Inferred resources increased to 17-million tonnes at a grade of 1.11% copper, including 9.5-million tonnes at 1.61% in the Mala Noche Footwall Zone – an area of shallower and thicker mineralisation, which is the target for a multi-year infill drilling programme.

“Since commencing production at 1 000 t/d in 2006, Cozamin has demonstrated a remarkable ability to continue to discover and define new reserves. Today, more than 12 years and approximately 12-million milled tonnes later, we announce the next step in Cozamin's evolution. The combination of the new reserves, as well as the significantly increased inferred resources give us the confidence to make additional investment to increase Cozamin's production profile,” commented president and CEO Darren Pylot.

Besides Cozamin, Capstone also owns the Pinto Valley copper mine, in Arizona, US, and it has a large-scale development project in Chile, in partnership with Korea Resources. Its Minto mine, in Yukon, Canada, is currently on care and maintenance.