The main shaft at Pumpkin Hollow copper mine, in Nevada, will be completed next month, which will increase hoisting rates and allow for mining operations to ramp up towards mill design capacity.
The underground mine will ramp up to production rates of 5 000 t/d in the first quarter of 2021, Toronto-listed Nevada Copper reported on Monday.
The company targeted 5 000 t/d by the end of 2020, but said that it had elected to reduce the size of certain early stopes in a localised area where initial ramp-up ore was planned in what it described as a “prudent” measure to reduce mining risks.
The move to initial smaller stopes would slow ramp-up, but it would not have an impact on the life-of-mine resource, Nevada Copper said.
“Despite the slower ramp-up, the change to initially smaller early stope sizes is expected to provide the benefit of an increased number of stopes earlier in the ramp-up which contributes toward de-risking production.”
The copper miner also reported that it had resumed concentrate deliveries from its Pumpkin Hollow mine. Production restarted in August following a Covid-19-related suspension earlier in the year. This first shipment comprised 1 322 t of concentrate.
Futher, Nevada Copper announced Dale Ekmark as the COO.