TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Denver, Colorado-based Thompson Creek Metals has lifted copper and gold output from its flagship Mount Milligan mine, in British Columbia, despite dealing with frozen and plugged feeders and unscheduled mechanical issues in areas of the grinding and flotation circuits since the start of the year.

For the three months ended March 31, the company produced 30 300 dry tonnes, comprising 15.4-million pounds of payable copper and 46 100 oz of payable gold, up 8% and 18%, respectively, over the first quarter of 2014.

The company reported that molybdenum sales from inventory at the company's shuttered Thompson Creek mine, in Idaho, and 75%-owned Endako mine, also in British Columbia, together with third-party-sourced material, which was converted at the company's Langeloth metallurgical facility, was 4.3-million pounds.

Thompson Creek said it had drawn up action plans to address the operational issues at Mount Milligan, which were being implemented.

“As a result of the issues we experienced in the mill, we reduced our use of the temporary secondary crushing circuit during the first quarter of 2015. With the recent improvements in the mill, we expect to increase secondary crushing for the remainder of 2015, which we believe will allow us to achieve throughput of about 60 000 t/d by year-end," president and CEO Jacques Perron advised.

During the first quarter, Thompson Creek had four shipments of copper and gold concentrate under its sales agreements and recognised three sales, compared with three shipments of concentrate and two sales in the first quarter of 2014.

Perron noted the company’s current business strategy was focused on transitioning Langeloth into one of the largest third-party molybdenum-conversion plants in the world, which was expected to contribute to positive cash flow from the molybdenum business this year, while its molybdenum mines remained on care and maintenance pending an improved market.