Atico Mining Produces 4.95 Million Pounds Copper In The Second Quarter

VANCOUVER - Atico Mining Corporation reported operating results for the three months ended June 30, 2020 from its El Roble mine. Production for the quarter totaled 4.95 million pounds of copper and 2,733 ounces of gold in concentrates, an increase of 57% for copper and an increase of 29% for gold over the same period in 2019.

“We are pleased to report production results in line with our 2020 objectives while the mine continued to operate under strict preventative protocols and health policies. To date, we have no confirmed cases of the COVID-19 at the mine site,” said Fernando E. Ganoza, CEO. “We continue to put tremendous emphasis on the health and safety of all of our employees while at the same time keeping a focus on delivering our 2020 production guidance.”

Overall production was in line with Company budget for the second quarter. The increase in most output metrics for the quarter is explained by the mine operating for the full quarter relative to Q2-2019 where the operation was stopped during the 2019 miners strike. The operation remains on track to deliver on set guidance throughout the remainder of the year.

The Company continues to closely monitor developments around the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to maintain strict preventative measures at the El Roble mine site, La Plata project, as well as our corporate offices to safeguard the health of its employees, while continuing to operate effectively and responsibly in its communities.

The El Roble mine is a high grade, underground copper and gold mine with nominal processing plant capacity of 1,000 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 historical nominal capacity of 400 tonnes per day.

El Roble has Proven and Probable reserves of 1.47 million tonnes grading 3.40% copper and 1.88 g/t gold, at a cut-off grade of 1.93% copper equivalent as of June 30th, 2018. Mineralization is open at depth and along strike and the Company plans to further test the limits of the deposit.

On the larger land package, the Company has identified a prospective stratigraphic contact between volcanic rocks and black and grey pelagic sediments and 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 numerous target areas prospective for VMS type mineralization occurrence, which is the focus of the current surface drill program at El Roble.