TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – TSX-listed Copper Mountain Mining on Tuesday said it was on schedule to complete the installation of its new secondary crusher at the Copper Mountain mine, near Princeton, British Columbia, by midsummer.

The Vancouver-based company said the main components of the $40-million crusher were now on a ship being transported to eastern Canada from where it would be taken to the mine site.

Copper Mountain said it intended the mill feed to be sized to the two-inch range. Plant operating results with minus 2-inch material had previously confirmed that the mill operated at its designed capacity of 35 000 t/d on a consistent basis.

Short-term mitigating measures implemented in 2013 to increase mill throughput had proven to be successful, including using an increased powder factor in blasting the ore and through adding three portable crushers.

These short-term improvements had proven to enhance mill productivity. At the start of 2013, the semiautogenous grinding (SAG) mill’s throughput averaged 24 900 t/d, but with the additions of the small portable crushing plants ahead of the SAG mill, average mill productivity increased to 32 767 t/d by year-end.

Likewise, mill operating time improved from 86% in the first quarter to 90% in the fourth quarter, with December averaging 95%.

The combined improved mill productivity and increased mill operating time resulted in increased copper output quarter-over-quarter as noted in the graph below.

In 2013 the mine produced 66.2-million pounds of copper, 216 000 oz of gold, and 320 400 oz of silver. The mill averaged 87.8% operating time for the year and a total of 10.1-million tonnes of ore were milled at an average grade of 0.35% copper.

Mill throughput was expected to total 32 000 t/d for the first six months of 2014 and 35 000 t/d after the new permanent crusher is operational. December and January operational results were in line with the production forecasts.

Copper Mountain said it expected the average copper head grade for the year to be 0.375% and full-year output to total between 80-million and 90-million pounds of copper.