The El Roble Mine, owned by the Canadian multinational Atico Mining, in Carmen de Atrato, increased its production to 4.37 million pounds of copper in the fourth quarter of 2023, an increase of 48% compared to the fourth quarter of 2022.
Likewise, it produced 13.24 million pounds of copper with 10,149 ounces of gold in concentrates for the entire year 2023.
Production amounted to 4.37 million pounds of copper with 2,578 ounces of gold for the fourth quarter (“Q4 2023”) and 13.24 million pounds of copper with 10,149 ounces of gold in concentrates for the full year 2023.
“From an operational point of view, the company had a challenging first half of the year. The team turned things around in the third quarter and continued to improve all metrics to end the year with results just below our production guidance,” said Fernando E. Ganoza, CEO.
At the same time, “we saw very prospective drilling results from our drilling program in the vicinity of the El Roble mine, which could point towards an extension of the current mine life.”
Fourth Quarter and Full Year Operational Highlights
Fourth trimester
Production of 4.37 million pounds of copper contained in concentrates; an increase of 48% compared to the fourth quarter of 2022.
Production of 2,578 ounces of gold contained in concentrates; a decrease of 15% compared to the fourth quarter of 2022.
Average tons processed per day of 853; an increase of 4% compared to the fourth quarter of 2022.
Copper and gold head grades of 2.89% and 1.75 grams per ton; an increase of 28% for copper and a decrease of 24% for gold during the fourth quarter of 2022.
Recovery of copper and gold of 94.0% and 62.7%; an increase of 4% for copper and 9% for gold compared to the fourth quarter of 2022.
All year 2023
Production of 13.24 million pounds of copper contained in concentrates; a decrease of 12% compared to 2022.
Production of 10,149 ounces of gold contained in concentrates; a decrease of 9% compared to 2022.
Average tons processed per day of 822; a decrease of 1% compared to 2022.
Copper and gold head grades of 2.34% and 1.89 grams per ton; a decrease of 22% for copper and 18% for gold during 2022.
Recovery of copper and gold of 92.1% and 60.6%; There will be no significant changes for copper and gold during 2022.
El Roble Mine
The El Roble mine is a high-grade underground copper-gold mine with a nominal processing plant capacity of 1,000 tons per day, located in the Department of Chocó in Colombia. Its commercial product is a copper and gold concentrate.
Since gaining control of the mine on November 22, 2013, Atico has upgraded the operation from a historic nominal capacity of 400 tonnes per day.
El Roble has Proven and Probable reserves of 1.00 million tons grading 3.02% copper and 1.76 g/t gold, with a cut-off grade of 1.3% copper equivalent with an effective date on September 30, 2020. Mineralization is open at depth and along strike and the Company plans to further test the limits of the deposit.
In the broader terrain, the Company has identified a possible stratigraphic contact between volcanic rocks and black and gray pelagic sediments and cherts that have been traced by Atico geologists over ten kilometers.
This contact has been determined to be an important control on VMS mineralization in which Atico has identified numerous prospective target areas for the occurrence of VMS type mineralization, which is the focus of the current surface drilling program at El Roble.
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