Recent developments at two Mexican projects and the advancement of the Cerattepe project in Turkey added some bright spots to Cominco Resources International’s (TSE) latest quarter ended Sept. 30.
On a less positive note, the mining and smelting operations posted a combined loss of $2.4 million in the third quarter, compared to a profit of $1.6 million in the same period last year.
Weak nickel prices took their toll on the company’s 50%-owned Glenbrook nickel smelter in Riddle, Ore. The operation was closed in early August, but sales from inventory will continue until year-end.
A new molybdenum concentrate circuit is being added to the 49%-owned Maria copper mine near Cananea, northwest Mexico. This will enable the mine to continue producing into 1995, about a year after the high-grade ore is depleted early next year. Mining and treatment of lower-grade reserves (1.8% copper and 0.74% moly) which underlie the high-grade copper ore will be phased in over the next few months.
Cominco’s share of copper-in-concentrates produced at Maria in the third quarter was 4.7 million lb., for a year-to-date total of 13.5 million lb. Reserves were increased at the Mariquita copper project in Mexico. Indicated and inferred reserves are now estimated at 43 million tonnes averaging 0.46% copper, using a cutoff of 0.3 per cent. An open-pit heap-leach operation is proposed which would use solvent extraction-electrowinning to produce 15,000 tonnes of copper cathode per year.
Progress was also made at the Cerattepe project in Turkey. Permitting is in place to start an underground decline to the high-grade copper zone, estimated to contain 1.2 million tonnes of 10% copper.
Recent work involved definition drilling on a near-surface gold and silver oxide, or “gossan”, cap to the copper deposit. This target contains an estimated 1.5 million tonnes averaging 4 grams gold and 150 grams silver per tonne.
Pit sampling and metallurgical work were also carried out.
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