Mitsubishi Joins Copper Mountain in Similco Redevelopment Project


Vancouver, Canada-based Copper Mountain Mining intends to redevelop the inactive Similco property in
British Columbia to extract copper resources from beneath and between three existing pits, in a “super-pit”
configuration. (Photo courtesy of Copper Mountain Mining Corp)
Copper Mountain Mining Corp. reported in late July 2009 that Mitsubishi Materials has signed definitive agreements whereby Mitsubishi will acquire a 25% interest in Copper Mountain’s Similco mine redevelopment project near Princeton, British Columbia, for $28.7 million. In addition, Mitsubishi will try to arrange a $250 million project loan and will purchase all of the copper concentrate produced by the mine.

The Copper Mountain property is a past producer that extracted ore from an underground mine from 1927 to 1957 and from open-pits from 1972 to 1996. Copper Mountain is redeveloping the property as a “super-pit” that will mine resources between and beneath three existing pits. The current resource is estimated at 5 billion lb of copper at a 0.15% copper cutoff. The resource estimate incorporates data from over 4,400 historical drill holes, totaling approximately 400,000 m, and 370 new drill holes, totaling 107,000 m, from Copper Mountain’s 2007 and 2008 exploration programs.

The definitive feasibility study for Copper Mountain’s redevelopment project was completed in September 2008. Mine production is planned at 35,000 mt/d. The mill is expected to produce 100 million lb/y of copper in concentrates, plus gold and silver credits. Life-of-mine production over a 17-year mine life is expected to total 1.47 billion lb of copper, 452,000 oz of gold, and 4.5 million oz of silver.

Detailed engineering for the project is currently in progress, and site geotechnical excavation for the concentrator is complete. As of late July, Copper Mountain had approximately 20 employees working on construction activities at the site. Employment during construction is expected to peak at about 200 workers, while ongoing operations will create 257 full-time positions. Production start-up is scheduled for 2011.

As featured in Womp 2009 Vol 07 - www.womp-int.com