Base metals miner Taseko increased its copper production by 28% quarter-on-quarter in the three months ended September 30, to 43-million pounds, but rail delays between the mine and the port terminal resulted in only 29-million pounds being shipped off.

A total of 18.5-million pounds of copper in concentrated had been stranded by the “extremely poor rail service”, costing the firm C$40-million in lost revenue, president and CEO Russell Hallbauer said this week.

Taseko, which is the 75% owner and operator of the Gibraltar copper/molybdenum mine, in British Columbia; however, expects to move most of the excess inventory to the port for shipping and is forecasting shipments of 45-million pounds in the December quarter.

Revenue decreased to C$74.3-million in the third quarter, from C$78.5-million in the same period of last year. Net earnings fell to C$7.01-million, from C$20.14-million a year earlier, and adjusted net income fell to C$1.46-million, from C$13.41-million.

The Gibraltar mine’s third-quarter production was significantly higher than previous quarters, as a result of improved head grade and increased concentrator output.

“Not only did we benefit from higher grade ore, but the ore processed was also softer and we were able to achieve higher design throughput of 87 000 t/d, 6% higher than the previous quarter. The combination of higher grade ore and throughput resulted in 43-million pounds of copper production in the third quarter,” said Hallbuaer.

The higher grades and production had a positive impact on total operating costs, which decreased to $1.58/lb, from with $1.98/lb in the third quarter of 2017.

Fourth-quarter production is estimated to be 130-million pounds.

Meanwhile, Taseko has made progress to grow its production, announcing that the C$32.5-million production test facility (PTF) for the Florence copper project, in Arizona, had been completed.

Hallbauer said that the solvent extraction and electrowinning plant and all associated infrastructure had been commissioned and that pre-operations tests had been performed. “We anticipate final authorisations to commence operations from the regulators shortly and are ready to immediately commence leaching operations."             

Florence is slated to produce on average 81-million pounds of copper a year, over a 21-year operating life. Total output is forecast in excess of 1.7-billion pounds of red metal, with total pre-production capital cost of $200-million.