The commissioning of the third ball mill will increase the plant milling capacity from 40,000tpd to 45,000tpd
Third ball mill at the copper project is also expected to boost recoveries. (Credit: Łukasz Klepaczewski/Pixabay)
Copper Mountain Mining announced that it has installed and started commissioning of a third ball mill at its Copper Mountain Mine in Canada.
The copper mine is located 20km near Princeton in southern British Columbia.
According to Copper Mountain Mining, the installation of the ball mill marks the completion of the Ball Mill 3 expansion project. The objective of the project is to increase the plant milling capacity from 40,000 tonnes per day (tpd) to 45,000tpd.
The third ball mill at the copper project is also expected to boost recoveries, which will lead to an increase in production by 15-18%.
Copper Mountain Mining president and CEO Gil Clausen said that with the start of electrical commissioning, the company intends to introduce slurry to the ball mill in October 2021. Ramp up of the mill to full production is anticipated this year.
Clausen added: “This is the first step in our multi-phase growth plans to achieve our vision to triple our annual production rate from 2020 levels in the next five years.
“Our development plan of our low cost and high ROIC projects includes continuing to expand the Copper Mountain Mine, advancing our Eva Copper Project in Australia and continued exploration on all of our properties.”
Copper Mountain Mining has a stake of 75% in the Copper Mountain Mine, while the remaining 25% stake is owned by Mitsubishi Materials.
Currently, the open pit mine produces nearly 100 million pounds of copper equivalent per annum.
The mine’s average annual production is estimated to increase to nearly 140 million pounds of copper equivalent. To achieve this, Copper Mountain Mining is planning a second mill expansion to increase the plant milling capacity to 65,000tpd.
The mine’s processing plant uses a conventional crushing, grinding, and flotation circuit for producing copper concentrates with gold and silver credits.