Photo by: Bloomberg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Oz Minerals has reported an increase in copper and gold production during the three months to September, as record plant throughputs were achieved.
Oz Minerals, which operates the Prominent Hill mine in South Australia, reported on Tuesday that copper production for the quarter under review increased to 26 249 t, compared with 22 181 t in the previous quarter. Gold production increased to 47 376 oz of gold, compared with 30 736 oz in the previous quarter.
The miner reported that the copper metal production recorded during the quarter indicated a return to the 100 000 t/y copper production run rate, with output “firmly on track” to meet the current full-year guidance of between 85 000 t and 90 000 t of copper, and between 130 000 oz and 140 000 oz of gold.
During the September quarter, the Prominent Hill mill also achieved its highest ever quarterly throughput rate of 2.8-million tonnes of ore, which resulted from engineering and operating plant optimisations and increased availability.
Meanwhile, the installation of an additional flotation cleaner stage progressed on schedule during the quarter, and would be commissioned in the final quarter of this year.
The flotation cleaner stage would assist in managing expected increases in uranium levels from the deeper ore, and would provide further flexibility in managing fluorine, which is variable in the orebody.
During October this year, Oz Minerals also reported its first production from stoping at the Malu underground mine, which forms part of Prominent Hill. Underground access was achieved through an extension to the main underground decline in early 2013, and resource drill testing has been ongoing since that time.
The underground mine was expected to ramp up to full production rates over the next year.