Taseko Starting Up Florence Copper Project in Arizona

Taseko Mines has announced that, following receipt of all necessary state and federal operating permits, well-field operations have begun and injection and recovery systems have been fully ramped up at its Florence in-situ copper recovery project in Pinal county Arizona, about midway between Phoenix and Tucson. Following an initial leaching period, leach solutions were flowing at expected levels as of early January, and copper had been detected in solutions recovered from process sample wells.

At full capacity, the Florence facility will produce an average of 85 million pounds per year (lb/y) of LME Grade A copper cathode over an operating life of about 21 years. The Florence deposit consists of a large porphyry copper sulphide system overlain by a thick and intensely fractured oxidized layer. The oxidized zone is saturated with ground water that is separated from the upper drinking-, agricultural-, and industrial- use aquifer by a thick layer of dense, low-permeability clay and separated from the deep groundwater by the relatively impervious sulphide system. This unusual, perhaps even unique, geological and hydrological combination makes the oxidized zone ideal for in-situ copper recovery.

As featured in Womp 2019 Vol 02 - www.womp-int.com