Canadian diversified miner Lundin Mining has withdrawn its 2020 guidance for the Chapada copper/gold mine, in Brazil, following a power outage that caused “significant” damage to the operation’s four semiautogenous grinding and ball mill motors.
The operation suffered an outage on Saturday morning and when power was restored, the protection system at the main electrical substation failed, resulting in damage to the motors, the company said in a statement on Sunday.
Early indications were that the motors would need to be removed from site to undergo extensive repair.
The operation has two spare motors – one is on site and available and the second is off site completing rehabilitation. Lundin said it was assessing the potential for a staged resumption of processing using these two motors; however, full processing rates were not expected to be achievable for an extended period of time.
In addition to assessing a staged resumption of processing, the company would be bringing forward planned maintenance and refocusing mining on waste removal and development activities.
Lundin also noted that it had business interruption insurance and would be assessing the applicability of the insurance and the relevant waiting periods in deciding whether to make a claim.
There were no injuries or environmental damage.
Chapada’s guidance for 2020 was to produce 51 000 t to 56 000 t of copper at $0.65/lb and 85 000 oz to 90 000 oz of gold.