The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Payable copper increased 70.7% for a record 9.1 million lb North of 60 Mining News – April 8, 2022
The Minto property is located west of the Yukon River, about 20 kilometers west-northwest of Minto Landing, the latter on the east side of the river, and approximately 250-road-kilometers north of the city of Whitehorse.
After being spun out from parent purchaser Pembridge Resources plc, Minto Metals Corp. April 6 announced the company's first-quarter production results from its Minto copper mine in central Yukon.
Bought from Capstone Mining Corp. early in 2018, Pembridge managed to complete its first full year of operations in 2020, despite the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Toward the end of that year, the company completed the formation of Minto Metals Corp., a TSX Venture Exchange-listed company that now operates the Minto Mine.
Based on a preliminary economic assessment prepared for Pembridge, Minto is expected to produce 277 million pounds of copper, 129,000 ounces of gold, and 930,000 oz of silver over the eight years considered in the scoping level study.
The mine outlined in the PEA is based on 11.09 million metric tons of measured and indicated resources averaging 1.46% (356 million lb) copper, 0.53 grams per metric ton (189,000 oz) gold, and 4.75 g/t (1.86 million oz) silver; plus 13.03 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 1.29% (370 million lb) copper, 0.49 g/t (207,000 oz) gold, and 4.55 g/t (2.09 million oz) silver.
The mine is forecast to average 38 million lb of copper, 17,600 oz of gold, and 129,000 oz of silver annually over the next five years.
"After a challenging start in 2021, the team has shown tremendous perseverance and has now put together five months in a row of strong operating results as we carried our momentum from November and December 2021 into the first quarter of 2022," said Minto Metals President and CEO Chris Stewart.
Minto Metals produced a record 9.1 million lb of copper during the first quarter of 2022, an increase of 70.7%, compared to the 5.3 million lb produced during the first three month last year.
"We eliminated our underground mine contractor and started to self perform mining operations for the first time in Minto's history in January 2022," continued Stewart. "This transition combined with COVID-19 caused some manpower challenges for us in January but we worked through that and delivered a record quarter of production hitting our copper pound targets in January and February and then finished up in March with our best results ever."
The current mine operations are based on underground mining, a process plant to produce high-grade copper, gold and silver concentrate, and all supporting infrastructure associated with a remote location in the Yukon.
"We delivered 3,101 tonnes/day of ore safely to surface and produced 3.3 million lbs of payable copper compared to a budget of 2900 tonnes/day and 2.4 million lbs respectively," Stewart added. "These are wonderful results and a credit to the hard work and dedication of all Minto employees. I am extremely proud of our team."
Minto Metals plans to release its full first-quarter 2022 financial results at the end of May.
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