North American miner Taseko Mines in 2019 produced 126-million pounds of copper and 2.7-million pounds of molybdenum from its 75%-owned Gibraltar mine, in British Columbia.
This had met the production guidance that the company set, despite a CN Rail strike in November, which impacted on the mine’s concentrate shipments for 11 days and forced the company to reduce its production, owing to concentrate storage capacity issues.
The strike impacted on fourth-quarter production, which was slightly lower than planned at 33.4-million pounds of copper and 700 000 lb of molybdenum.
Total sales for the year were 122-million pounds of copper and 2.8-million pounds of molybdenum.
"We are pleased to have met the annual production guidance that we provided 12 months ago," said Taseko CEO Russell Hallbaurer.
He added in a statement on Thursday that the company had to issue a new form of reclamation security for Gibraltar, which had resulted in $36-million of cash being released to Taseko in the fourth quarter last year.
Looking forward, a stronger copper price and lower refining costs should help operating margins improve this year, he said.