PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Junior explorer Metallum has taken full ownership of the San Sebastian concession and mine, which forms part of the greater El Roble copper project, in Chile.
Metallum in August this year signed an option agreement to acquire the San Sebastian concession, covering about 50 ha adjoining the company’s El Roble project area, for $250 000.
By October, Metallum had obtained a mining permit over the concession, allowing for the extraction of up to 5 000 t/m of copper-bearing material, and in November the company started mining at the concession.
“The completion of the San Sebastian acquisition is a major achievement for the company. We see San Sebastian as a key area within the El Roble project where we have commenced underground mining activities on a major high-grade copper vein, and we can now commit to increasing our activities there,” said Metallum MD Zeff Reeves.
“We have been preparing the first delineated stope area for mining by installing two access shafts in the vein to join the 1040 level with the old mine at the 1090 level. This work has produced around 700 t of high-grade material which we will begin trucking to the treatment plant immediately.”
Reeves noted the vein had widened as the company advanced upward, with widths of up to 4 m having been encountered, and the overall average width has been estimated at 2.5 m.
“We hope to complete installation of the access shafts during December and begin production stoping as soon as possible, which will see the rate of extraction dramatically increase as the first stope is extracted. We are very excited about the prospects of San Sebastian and see other opportunities to establish additional mining fronts in the short term to further enhance our extraction rates and delineate further high-grade zones for mining.”