Capstone seeks high-grade ore to delay closure of Minto mine

Capstone Mining Corp. said Oct. 25 it is looking for new sources of high-grade ore that will allow the company to continue operations at its Minto copper mine in the Yukon through the end of 2017.

Earlier this year, Capstone announced plans to temporarily halt operations at Minto. This planned closure is part of an initiative to cut costs during this period of low copper prices.

So far, high-grade copper ore at the Minto North open-pit has allowed for low cost production at the mine. Mining at Minto North, however, was completed at the end of September. The mill is currently processing high-grade ore stockpiled from this open-pit along with ore mined from underground.

Capstone currently plans to continue underground mining into July 2017, as additional areas of high-grade underground ore continue to be mined.

The company said it is reviewing the economics of another stage of mining in Area 2, a potential source of open-pit ore that may extend operations at Minto through 2017. At this point, however, the company maintains the plan to temporarily close the operation in 2017, once underground mining is complete and all the ore from the remaining stockpiles is processed.

So far in 2016, Minto has produced 22,625 metric tons of copper in concentrates at a net direct (C1) cash cost of US$1.30 per pound of payable copper produced. This low production cost is due to the greater than 3 percent copper ore grades being processed from Minto North and underground.

Minto is the only hard rock mine currently operating in the Yukon.

-SHANE LASLEY