JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Mid-tier copper miner Avanco has produced its first copper concentrate at its Antas operation, in the Carajás mineral province of Brazil.
“This is a significant milestone deliverable and bodes well for timely completion of commissioning and transition to steady-state production,” the ASX-listed company said in a statement, noting that the “running-in” of its ball mill continued.
It was steadily ramping-up to its 65 t/h, or 500 000 t/y, planned production throughput rate target. This would be reached by month-end.
The 10-m-diameter slurry tank, which eliminated surges from the grinding circuit, facilitating steady feed conditions to flotation, was also functioning well, with all other operations, including the Outokompu rougher cells, Scavenger cells, tailings pumps, Denver flotation cleaner circuit also commissioned and functioning well.
Final copper concentrate generated by the flotation cells returned assays of 28% copper confirming that Antas ore responded well to flotation and that the quality of concentrate production met commercial specifications.
First shipment of copper concentrate was being targeted for April.