Taseko lifts quarterly copper output 30%
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – British Columbia- (BC-) focused base metals miner Taseko has increased its third-quarter copper output 30% to 36.7-million pounds at its 75%-owned Gibraltar mine.
The increase was mainly the result of optimising the grinding circuits, improved recoveries and a higher head grade, the company reported on Monday.
In the last 12 months, copper production had increased 34% from 21-million pounds a quarter.
Second-quarter production totalled 28.1-million pounds of copper, a 21% increase over the previous quarter, as the flagship Gibraltar mine ramped up production from its Concentrator 2 as part of the Gibraltar Development Plan III.
Molybdenum production totalled 284 000 lb, down on the 333 000 lb reported in the second quarter.
President and CEO Russell Hallbauer said the mill availability increased from 83% in the second quarter, to 87% in the third quarter ended September 30.
“There still remain significant opportunities for further mill throughput increases as we move toward the target availability of 93.5%,” he said.
Hallbauer explained that the operations team was still gaining a thorough understanding of how to best manage ore feed to the two concentrators and more production improvements were expected.
“Important in this integration is how we will process certain types of ore, with differing characteristics, which may allow the concentrators to function above design capacity,” he said.
Total sales for the quarter were 26.7-million pounds of copper and 110 000 lb of molybdenum. The reduced copper sales were a result of a vessel delay at the end of the quarter, resulting in a carry-over of 13.6-million pounds of copper inventory, which would be included in fourth quarter sales.
The Gibraltar operation is a joint venture between Taseko and Cariboo Copper.
Comments
Press Office
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