Copper miner Taseko Mines has reported lower copper production and sales for 2021, as the company suffered major weather-related disruptions in the final quarter of the year.

The TSX- and NYSE American-listed miner produced 112-million pounds of copper and sold 105-million pounds from the Gibraltar mine, in British Columbia, during the year. This was lower than the 123-million pounds of copper that the mine produced in 2020 and also below its guidance for the year.

Fourth-quarter copper production was 29-million pounds.

Taseko still realised 24-million pounds of copper sales in the fourth quarter, despite major disruptions to the highway and rail infrastructure in southern British Columbia from severe rainstorms in November.

“Transit times for rail shipments are gradually improving and we expect to reduce copper inventories at Gibraltar in the first quarter of 2022,” said president and CEO Stuart McDonald.

He also noted that production in the fourth quarter was impacted by lower grades and recoveries from ore mined in the upper benches of the Gibraltar pit.

“Increased oxidisation and pyrite content in the ore has been resulting in lower recoveries which we believe is a short-term issue that will be resolved. Ore quality will also improve as mining progresses deeper into the pit. In December, extreme snowfall and temperatures as low as minus 35 ^oC also impacted mine equipment and mill availabilities, resulting in decreased mill throughput and a need to draw ore from lower grade stockpiles.”

McDonald reported that weather conditions had improved recently, and that mill throughput had stabilised allowing the technical team to focus on optimising recoveries from Gibraltar pit ore.

Meanwhile, commenting on the Florence copper project, in the US, he said that the US Environmental Protection Agency advised the company that the public comment period for the draft underground injection control permit would start in February.

Taseko did not provide comment on the much-delayed New Prosperity project, in Canada. The project has been stalled by the Tsilhqot’in Nation, which is opposed to an openpit gold and copper mine on an area that it says has profound cultural importance to its people. The federal government has also rejected the proposed mine.

In late December, British Columbia Minister George Heyman denied Taseko an extension of its provincial environmental certificate. The certificate has already been extended three times. Heyman said in a letter dated December 21 that, given the federal rejection of New Prosperity, “rather than extending a certificate that followed an assessment conducted more than a decade ago, it would be appropriate for Taseko to apply, if it wishes to do so, for a new certificate in respect of a project that it does intend to build”.