Copper production drops at DeGrussa in June quarter
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Copper/gold miner Sandfire Resources on Wednesday reported that while copper production from its Western Australia-based DeGrussa mine dropped during the three months to June, production during the full year had increased compared with 2013.
During the June quarter, the DeGrussa operation delivered 17 654 t of copper and 9 288 oz of gold, compared with the 18 098 t of copper and 10 035 oz of gold delivered in the previous quarter.
However, for the year ended June, the operation delivered 67 690 t of copper and 33 893 oz of gold, which compared favourably to the 64 017 t of copper and 42 679 oz of gold delivered in the previous financial year.
Copper production in the June quarter was affected by lower ore grades compared with the previous quarter, which also resulted in C1 cash operating costs for the quarter increasing to $1.18/lb, compared with the $1.08/lb reported in the quarter ended March.
The operating cost was also affected by the stronger Australian dollar currency, as well as lower gold production and sales during the quarter.
Despite the lower production, mining and milling throughput during the quarter exceeded 1.5-million tonnes a year, which Sandfire said demonstrated the capacity of the mine and the processing plant.
At the end of the quarter, mined ore run-of-mine stocks exceeded 70 000 t.
Meanwhile, underground mining also progressed during the quarter, and four stopes were now in various stages of development and production. The underground mine exceeded the targeted ore production rate of 1.5-million tonnes a year, with 415 930 t of underground sulphide ore mined during the quarter.
For 2015, Sandfire was targeting copper production of between 67 000 t and 70 000 t, while gold production was expected to reach between 35 000 oz and 40 000 oz.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
SBS® Tanks is a leading provider of innovative water security solutions with offices in Southern Africa, East and West Africa, the USA and an...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Weir Minerals Europe, Middle East and Africa is a global supplier of excellent minerals solutions, including pumps, valves, hydrocyclones,...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
