KALGOORLIE (miningweekly.com) – Metals miner 29Metals is expecting to resume production at its Esperanza South mine, at its Capricorn copper project in Queensland, by the first half of next year.

The company last week launched Phase 1 of the restart operations, which saw the restart of mining activities at the Mammoth and Greenstone deposits.

Phase 2 of the restart strategy will focus on the Esperanza South operation, with dewatering and rehabilitation efforts at the mine to be undertaken during Phase 1 to enable full recovery operations during Phase 2.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Diggers & Dealers conference, 29Metals MD and CEO Peter Albert said dewatering of the Esperanza South operation would start in the next quarter.

29Metals is expecting recovery costs to reach between A$30-million and A$38-million between the September quarter and the end of the year, with a further A$17-million to A$20-million of recovery costs planned for the mid first half of 2024.

“Of course we will maintain tight control over that capital cost, as always, especially under the current conditions. But we need to invest in the infrastructure required to discharge the water, deal with the water, and bring Esperanza South back into operation,” Albert told Mining Weekly Online.

Meanwhile, the company was working with insurance providers for the Capricorn copper project, following the freak weather event which caused the company to suspend production and all non-essential activity in March this year.

“We have significant insurance coverage as you would expect, and we immediately advised our insurance of the weather event, and they have been to the site a couple of times. We understand that they have all the information that they require from us and will now be going through their process of determining a path forward. These things typically take time, but we are pushing them to provide us with an interim payment.”