As of early June, commissioning was in progress, including crushing and water testing of the SX/EW plant. The Franke ore contains elevated levels of carbonates, which will result in high acid consumption. A contract with Codelco is in place for about 50% of the project’s sulphuric acid requirements, and a life-of-mine agreement is in place for water to be provided via a 66-km pipeline from Codelco’s Salvador Division.

The Franke property is linked to the local rail system. Power for the project is supplied from the local grid via a 110 kV high voltage line. A power supply agreement has been entered into with Pacific Hydro.

Franke will be Quadra’s third producing copper mine. Current operations are the Robinson (130 million lb/y of copper) and Carlota (70 million lb/y of copper) mines in the United States. With an average operating cash cost of under $1.30/lb of copper produced, Franke is expected to have the effect of lowering Quadra’s company-wide average cost of production.