JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed copper miner Weatherly International has lifted the output guidance for its Tschudi mine, in Namibia, for the current quarter by 15% to about 1 150 t/m of copper.

“We maintain our focus on Tschudi and the ramp-up has progressed well ahead of schedule. Weatherly will be operating a new 17 000 t/y openpit copper mine before year-end, producing some of the highest-quality copper cathode in the world,” CEO Craig Thomas said in a statement published on Monday.

However, the company noted that, owing to the marked decline in global copper prices from January, it would suspend production at its Otjihase and Matchless mines, as copper production levels had been insufficient to support the ongoing costs of operating these mines.

“As a consequence, management has had to implement measures, which, in the short term, reduce costs but, in the longer term, look to create a viable future,” Thomas said.

The installed processing infrastructure at Otjihase was capable of treating much greater quantities of copper ore than the two underground mines had been producing for the last five years.

The identified mineral resources at Otjihase and Matchless were considered by the company to be sufficient to support viable plans for increased production volumes when copper prices improve and sufficient mine development work had been completed.

The suspension of the operations would allow Weatherly to develop a plan to prepare for a resumption of production at expanded volumes when copper prices improved.

Key activities during the project development phase would include maintaining the mining and processing infrastructure in good condition ready for the resumption of operations, as well as investing in upgrading the definition of mineral resources at Otjihase and Matchless mines, plus creating new access tunnels into areas planned for future underground mining.

Weatherly would also continue to evaluate the opportunities in the region surrounding Otjihase, which was known to host several copper deposits.

The regional endowment presented additional potential for further expansion of production and Weatherly was well positioned to take advantage of any future opportunities owing to synergies provided by its Otjihase Concentrator to materially lower the unit costs of production.

The company believed that an enlarged business unit based around the Otjihase and Matchless assets would have significantly enhanced capability for weathering any future downturns in the commodity price cycle.