Late last year, Copper Mountain released a new life-of-mine plan including an increase to concentrator capacity that would bring it up to 65,000 t/d. Exploration is underway to meet such a boost with ore from the potential North and New Ingerbelle deposits.
Copper Mountain is working on an electric trolley assist system for its haulage trucks in a move to reduce the operation’s greenhouse gas emissions. The project is due to be commissioned late this year.
The Copper Mountain mine is owned 75% and operated by Copper Mountain Mining; Mitsubishi Materials owns the remaining 25%.
As of Jan. 1, 2021, the Copper Mountain mine had measured and indicated resources of 597.1 million tonnes grading 0.24% copper, 0.10 g/t gold and 0.7 g/t silver, containing 4 billion lb. of copper, 1.7 million oz. of gold, and 10.6 million oz. of silver. The inferred resource was 311 million tonnes grading 0.2% copper, 0.01 g/t gold, and 0.5 g/t silver, containing 1.8 million lb. of copper, 1 million oz. of gold, and 5 million oz. of silver.
(This article first appeared in the Canadian Mining Journal)
