The Constancia mine started up commercial production of copper in Peru last April, the Canadian mining company HudBay Minerals announced.
It “achieved commercial production on April 30, 2015. Ocean shipments began in April 2015 […],” President and Chief Executive Officer David Garofalo told reporters.
"Reaching commercial production on schedule at the Constancia mine is a major milestone for Hudbay [...] This achievement strengthens our position as a low cost, high-quality copper and zinc producer,” he pointed out.
"Constancia has allowed us to broaden our skills as a mine developer, and given its ongoing ramp up, we continue to expect to meet our corporate production and cost guidance for 2015," Garofalo expressed.
According to the CEO, the plant is performing as designed and throughput has occasionally exceeded design capacity due to favorable ore characteristics, with peaks of over 90,000 tonnes per day.
He went on to add “Copper recovery in April averaged just over 65% which is in line with the ramp up design and expectations.”
"As at April 30, 2015, 42,575 tonnes of copper concentrate had been produced, of which approximately 20,500 tonnes had been shipped," he stated.
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