Name of the Mine
Copper Mountain mine (CMM).

Location  
South of Princeton, British Columbia, Canada.

Mine Owner/s  
Diversified Canadian mining company Hudbay Minerals Inc. 

Brief Description  
CMM is a conventional openpit, truck-and-shovel operation. The mine has a 45 000 t/d plant that uses a conventional crushing, grinding and flotation circuit to produce copper concentrates with gold and silver credits.

Brief History  
After 15 years of care and maintenance, Copper Mountain Mining Corporation restarted operations at the CMM in mid-2011. The CMM was constructed between 2010 and mid-2011 on a site of previous mining activity; significant parts of the infrastructure were already in place, including power line, roads, water source, mine office building, and tailings management facility (TMF). Operations have continued since without major interruptions. 

Hudbay acquired the mine in June 2023.

Primary Metals/Minerals  
Copper.

Secondary Metals/Minerals  
Gold and silver.

Geology/Mineralisation  
CMM is located near the southern edge of the Quesnel Terrane, in British Columbia. 

This geologic region comprises ancient volcanic, sedimentary, and igneous (intrusive) rocks that formed hundreds of millions of years ago.

The main rocks in this part of the Quesnel Terrane are from the Nicola Group, a formation created in a marine volcanic island arc environment during the Late Triassic period. At CMM, these rocks have been intruded by several bodies of molten rock that solidified underground – most notably the Copper Mountain Stock, Voigt Stock, and the younger Lost Horse Intrusive Complex.

Most of the copper and gold mineralisation at the mine is found in a zone about 5 km long and 2 km wide, made up of Nicola Group rocks. This mineralised belt is bordered by large fault systems and the Copper Mountain Stock.

The copper/gold mineralisation occurred after the intrusion of the Copper Mountain Stock and is closely linked in time and space to the Lost Horse Intrusive Complex. Over time, additional geological events introduced narrow, light-coloured felsite dykes that cut across the earlier rocks. These are related to a separate igneous body, the Verde Creek quartz monzonite, located a few kilometres to the northeast.

Newer layers of rock from the Eocene period, including volcanic and sedimentary rocks (known as the Princeton Group), are situated on top of the older rocks in some areas, tilted at about a 30° angle.

Like other porphyry copper deposits, CMM shows different types of alteration – changes in the rock caused by hot, mineral-rich fluids. The main alteration types found here are potassic, sodic, and propylitic. Less common types include kaolinite-rich and sericite-chlorite clays. These alterations happened after earlier heat from nearby intrusions had hardened (or hornfelsed) some of the volcanic rocks.

Minerals containing copper and gold are found in several forms at the site: spread out (disseminated) or in networks of tiny veins (stockworks), containing minerals such as chalcopyrite, bornite, chalcocite, and pyrite; in coarse, pegmatite-like veins with bornite and chalcopyrite; in zones where magnetite has replaced earlier rocks, sometimes with hematite and chalcopyrite; and in breccia zones (broken rock fragments) filled with copper-bearing minerals and magnetite.

As the area was scraped clean by glaciers during the last Ice Age, the copper deposits are mostly unweathered and show little surface oxidation or natural concentration by weathering – known as "secondary enrichment."

Reserves  
As at January 1, 2025, CMM had proven and probable reserves of 346-million grading 0.245% copper, 0.116 g/t gold and 0.67 g/t silver.

Resources  
As at January 1, 2025, CMM had total measured and indicated resources of 124.7-million tonnes grading 0.21% copper, 0.105 g/t gold and 0.68 g/t silver. Inferred resources were estimated at 372.2-million tonnes grading 0.25% copper, 0.128 g/t gold and 0.6 g/t silver.

Type of Mine
Openpit.

Mining Method  
CMM uses conventional openpit mining methods comprising drilling, blasting, shovel loading, and rigid-frame rear-dump-truck haulage.

Major Infrastructure/Equipment  
Existing infrastructure installed to support the CMM operation includes:

• a complete 45 000 t/d copper/gold/silver flotation plant and concentrate load-out facility.
• active CMM openpits and waste rock facilities (WRFs). 
• historical Ingerbelle pit and its north WRF. 
• cyclone sand dam TMF, complete with seepage return-pumping systems installed at the toe of the east dam and west dam. 
• access and haul roads
• a plant site.
• TMFs.  
• explosives bulk storage depot and magazine.
• pumping station at the Similkameen river.
• a five-bay truck shop, tire pad, wash pad, and warehouse facilities. 
• overland 3.3-km-long, 65 MVA, high-voltage power line from the historical Ingerbelle concentrator area to the new concentrator area. 
• freshwater supply is composed of two 224 kW and two 335 kW pumps on the west side of the Similkameen river. Fresh water is pumped across the existing Similkameen river pipe bridge to a booster station equipped with three 522 kW pumps for transport to the freshwater storage tank. 
• process water is pumped from two 447 kW and two 597 kW vertical turbine pumps (mounted on a barge) to a booster station, consisting of five 597 kW booster pumps, which send flow to the process water storage tank. 
• potable and wastewater treatment facilities servicing the full allotment of operating and administration staff. 
• site security and safety/training facility and sediment management installations. 
• fuel storage for 352 000 ℓ of diesel, 44 000 ℓ of gasoline, and 94 000 ℓ of propane; dispensing equipment; bulk storage areas for lubricants and reagents.
• fully equipped metallurgical and assay determination laboratory. 
• administration facilities and car parking lot. 
• communication facilities (telephone, cellular, Internet, and fibre-optic on site). 
• training, plant tool storage, security gatehouse, and first aid facilities. 
• mining infrastructure, including a 1 km trolley-assist hauling system from the CMM pits. 
• explosives bulk storage depot and magazines. 
• one 18-inch-diameter and two 20-inch-diameter pipelines span the Similkameen river on a cable-supported bridge. 
• several water pump-back systems are installed at a series of surface-water collection points throughout the TMF and pit operations area.

Prospects  
The current mineral reserve estimates continue to support a mine life until 2043, with significant upside potential for future resource conversion and mine life extension beyond 19 years.

Contact Details 
Hudbay Minerals Inc
Tel +1 416 362 8181
Email info@hudbayminerals.com
Website https://hudbayminerals.com/