Feb 24 2014
Copper Mountain Mining Corporation announces that construction of the new permanent secondary crusher at the Copper Mountain mine located in southern British Columbia is underway and on schedule.
Foundation work for secondary crusher at mine site
The main components of the crusher have arrived in Canada at the port of Halifax where they were off loaded onto rail for transportation to Kamloops, BC where they will be transported by truck to the mine site. This crusher will be the largest cone crusher installed in western Canada and initial foundation work is well underway and the mild west coast winter has greatly reduced the potential extra cost of heating and hording of concrete. The general contractor, Gisbourne are now fully staffed and proceeding with construction as planned. The total cost of construction for the secondary crusher is estimated to be approximately $40 million and construction is expected to be complete by mid-summer. Once installed, 100% of the mill feed will be sized to the 2 inch range. Plant operating results with minus 2 inch material has confirmed that the mill operates at its designed capacity of 35,000 tpd on a consistent basis.
Short term mitigating measures implemented in 2013 to increase mill throughput continue to be successful with another record month of production in January totaling 7.1 million lbs of copper. Mill throughput is forecast to be 32,000 tpd for the first six months of 2014 and 35,000 tpd after the new permanent crusher is operational. December and January operational results are in line with the production forecasts. Forecast average copper head grade and production for the year is approximately 0.375 % and 80 to 90 million pounds respectively.