Capstone Mining, a Canadian base metals mining company, has increased reserves of its Cozamin polymetallic underground mine in Zacatecas, Mexico by 89% in its updated technical report.
Image: A native copper. Photo: courtesy of Native_Copper_Macro_Digon3.jpg: “Jonathan Zander (Digon3)"/ derivative work: Materialscientist (talk)/Wikipedia.
Highlights
Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves increased by 89%, over the Reserves as at December 31, 2017, to 6.2 million tonnes grading 1.60% copper.
Results of the Materials Handing Study shows an approximate 30% increase in expected throughput to 3,780 tonnes per day (“tpd”) by the end of 2020, with an estimated investment of less than $5 million. The anticipated result is an increase in annual production to between 40 to 45 million pounds of copper.
Inferred Mineral Resources have increased to 17 million tonnes at a copper grade of 1.11%; including 9.5 million tonnes at a copper grade of 1.61% in the Mala Noche Footwall Zone (“MNFWZ”).
This area of the MNFWZ is a shallower and thicker zone of mineralization than the current Indicated Mineral Resources, and the target for a multi-year infill drill program with the goal of converting more resources to reserves.
Capstone president and CEO Darren Pylot said: “The Cozamin mine continues to be a valuable asset for Capstone and formed the foundation upon which we built our company.
“Since commencing production at 1,000 tpd in 2006, Cozamin has demonstrated a remarkable ability to continue to discover and define new reserves. Today, more than 12 years and approximately 12 million milled tonnes later, we announce the next step in Cozamin’s evolution.
“The combination of the new Reserves as well as the significantly increased Inferred Resources give us the confidence to make additional investment to increase Cozamin’s production profile. We look forward to continued exploration success and the further delineation of reserves at Cozamin as the mine continues to operate well into the future.”
Processing Rates
Cozamin’s mill throughput is currently constrained by the mine’s ability to deliver ore to surface. The Materials Handling Study identified congestion on the main haulage ramp as the mine production bottleneck and compared several alternative solutions to sustainably raise production to match the nameplate mill capacity.
For a total investment of less than $5 million, Cozamin will be able to transform its haulage network from a two-way single ramp to a one-way ramp loop by connecting an existing main ramp to a planned ramp with a short (~1 km) drift.
The future one-way haulage loop (including the aforementioned planned ramp) is expected to be completed by the end of 2020 and raise production by approximately 30%, when compared to current mine production rates.
Source: Company Press Release