TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Midtier copper miner Taseko Mines had lifted its 2013 copper output by 35% year-on-year to 121.5-million pounds, boosted by the ramp-up of a new concentrator at its 75%-owned Gibraltar mine, in south-central British Columbia.

The Vancouver-based miner also on Wednesday reported that molybdenum output rose by 10% to 1.5-million pounds.

For the calendar year 2013, total sales from Gibraltar were 114.2-million pounds of copper and 1.3-million pounds of molybdenum. Taseko's 75% share of the full-year sales totalled 85.7-million pounds of copper and one-million pounds of molybdenum.

"We are pleased that the ramp-up of the new concentrator is complete and now operating at design capacity. Overall, the two concentrators are performing very well, although there remains work to be done in optimising the copper recovery circuits.

“Significant recovery improvements were achieved in the new molybdenum separation facility during the fourth quarter with molybdenum recoveries averaging 31%, a 79% increase from that achieved in the third quarter,” Taseko president and CEO Russell Hallbauer said.

He added that in the fourth quarter ended December 31, the daily mill throughput averaged 82 400 t/d, an 81% increase over the same period a year earlier. This was achieved despite mill availability being 7% below target.

Total output for the quarter was 33.5-million pounds of copper and 480 000 lb of molybdenum.

During the quarter, mining operations transitioned into a lower-grade portion of the Granite pit, where the copper grade was about 10% lower than the life-of-mine (LoM) reserve grade. It was expected that the grade would remain at roughly this level through the first four months of 2014 before returning to more normal LoM grades.

The fourth quarter total sales were 37.4-million pounds of copper and 500 000 lb of molybdenum.

During the quarter, copper inventories were reduced from the previous quarter; however, they remained higher than normal owing to a delayed shipment at the end of the year.

The Gibraltar mine is a joint venture owned by Taseko and Cariboo Copper Corp, which owns 25%.

Meanwhile, Taseko ran into headwinds in 2013 with its endeavours to develop the New Prosperity gold/copper project, in British Columbia.

Taseko had, in December, started a federal judicial review that would seek to set aside certain findings of a federal review panel report on the environmental assessment for the proposed project.

Taseko had asked the court for a declaration that certain panel findings relating to seepage and water quality be set aside, and that the panel failed in certain respects to comply with principles of procedural fairness.

The judicial review would address the question of whether Natural Resources Canada – and, in turn, the panel – made a fundamental error when determining expected seepage rates from the tailings storage facility.

The panel had early in November found that the company's revised plan for a copper/gold mine in British Columbia posed significant threats to the environment. The panel found that the project was likely to have significant adverse effects in about 30 different areas, including human health, salmon habitat and wildlife – findings that were now being challenged.