Atico Produces 4.52 Million Pounds of Cu and 2,813 Ounces of Au
VANCOUVER, BC - Atico Mining Corporation reported operating results for the three months ended September 30, 2016 from its El Roble mine in Colombia. Production for the quarter totaled 4.52 million pounds of copper and 2,813 ounces of gold in concentrates, an increase of 39% for copper and a decrease of 5% for gold over the same period in 2015. "The Company has had a solid operating quarter as the El Roble mine performance has stayed in line with expectations and remains on target to meet our annual consolidated production guidance," said Fernando E. Ganoza, CEO. "We commend the operation team which was able to swiftly make adjustments and partially mitigate the impact caused by the national transportation strike which began in the second quarter and concluded in late July. We look forward to strong fourth quarter and 2016 results".
Third Quarter Operational Highlights: Production of 4.52 million pounds of copper contained in concentrates; an increase of 39% over Q3 2015; Production of 2,813 ounces of gold contained in concentrates; a decrease of 5% over Q3 2015; Average processed tonnes per day of 766, an increase of 19.5% over Q3 2015; Copper head grade of 3.48%, an increase of 7% over Q3 2015; Gold head grade 2.08 grams per tonne; a decrease of 26% over Q3 2015; and Copper and gold recovery of 94.6% and 67.9%; no significant change for copper and gold over Q2 2015.
Operation for the quarter has continued at steady state production levels as it remains in line with our guidance for the year. Copper recovery has continued maintaining recently reached highs, while gold recovery still shows opportunity for further improvements. The team on site will continue to optimize the operation through the remainder of this year to capitalize on remaining opportunities particularity in gold recovery.
The El Roble mine is a high grade underground copper and gold mine with nominal processing plant capacity of 800 tonnes per day, located in the Department of Choco in Colombia. Its commercial product is a copper-gold concentrate.
Since obtaining control of the mine on November 22, 2013, Atico has upgraded the operation from a nominal capacity of 400 tonnes per day. The mine has a continuous operating history of twenty-two years, with recorded production of 1.5 million tonnes of ore at an average head grade of 2.6% copper and an estimated gold grade of 2.5 g/t. Copper and gold mineralization at the El Roble property occurs in volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) lenses.
Since entering into the option agreement in January 2011 to acquire 90% of El Roble, Atico has aggressively explored the mine and surrounding claims. The Company has completed 31,377 meters of diamond drilling and identified numerous prospective targets for VMS deposits on the 6,679-hectare property. This exploration led to the discovery of high-grade copper and gold mineralization below the 2000 level, the lowest production level of the El Roble mine. Atico has developed a new adit access from the 1880 elevation to develop these new resources.
El Roble has a measured and indicated resource of 1.87 million tonnes grading 3.46% copper and 2.27 g/t gold, at a cut-off grade of 0.93% copper equivalent. Mineralization is open at depth and along strike and the Company plans to further test the limits of the resource.
On the larger land package, the Company has identified a prospective stratigraphic contact between volcanic rocks and black and grey cherts that has been traced by Atico geologists for ten kilometers. This contact has been determined to be an important control on VMS mineralization on which Atico has identified 15 prospective target areas for VMS type mineralization occurrence, which is the focus of the surface drill program at El Roble.