PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Phase 1 restart of the Capricorn copper operation, in Queensland, is on track for August, ASX-listed 29Metals said on Wednesday.

The company in early March halted production and all non-essential activity at the copper operation, as road access was lost and heavy rainfall resulted in a substantial increase in the volume of water held on site.

The operation has remained suspended owing to water ingress into the Esperanza South mine, flood damage to existing water treatment facilities, workshop and warehouse, and elevated water levels within the on-site water storage structures.

29Metals in May unveiled its recovery plan, with Phase 1 to focus on the Mammoth and Greenstone mines, which are operationally ready. The underground mining contractor has started re-mobilising personnel and equipment, 29Metals said.

Meanwhile, the limited damage at the mineral processing facilities, which was caused by the extreme weather event, has been repaired, general maintenance for the mill is underway and a restart plan is in place.

Early activity for Phase 2 of the recovery is progressing to plan for the targeted restart of the Esperanza South sub-level cave mine in the middle of the first half of 2024, with the design and selection of pumping and ancillary infrastructure to dewater ESS largely completed and in procurement. Recovery costs are in line with plan. As the implementation of the recovery progresses, 29Metals will continue to assess opportunities to reduce recovery costs.

A further update regarding recovery plan progress will be reported in 29Metals’ quarterly report for the June quarter planned to be released on July 25.

In parallel with the recovery plan activities, 29Metals continues to engage with the regulator regarding the next lift of the Esperanza tailings storage facility (TSF). The approval process for the proposed lift is ongoing as 29Metals works through further technical matters raised by the regulator.

29Metals told shareholders on Wednesday that the company continues to investigate alternative shorter-term tailings storage capacity options to seek to mitigate ongoing delays in the approvals process as the site transitions to a planned new life-of-mine TSF.