Production Restart At Pumpkin Hollow And Identification Of Additional Copper Targets
YERINGTON, NV - Randy Buffington, President & CEO of Nevada Copper, stated, “Our Pumpkin Hollow team is focused on advancing the restart project quickly and safely. We are building on the momentum of the recent achievements by the underground crews as they have progressed through the dike structure and are advancing into the EN Zone in anticipation of the underground development contractor arriving on site and commencing development. The technical and leadership teams are in place and committed to executing this restart plan. We are targeting a mill restart in the third quarter with a quick ramp up to nameplate capacity by the end of 2023.”
The Nevada Copper operations team continues to make rapid progress on all underground activities including mine development, hoisting, stope preparation, and underground projects. The historically reported dike crossings that provide initial stope top and bottom access into the EN Zone were fully established and completed in December 2022, and development is progressing toward stoping areas. Both key development drives that have crossed the dike have encountered ground conditions at or better than expectation, confirming the geotechnical model that predicted higher quality rock. Definition drilling of the initial stopes to feed the restart of milling operations in Q3 2023 have been completed and assayed, and confirm rock quality, grade and geometry represented by the geologic and reserve models.
The Company has completed the bid process for the development mining contractor and is in the final stages of negotiations for a unit rate contract with an internationally recognized major mining services contractor.
Key components of the development contract include: 72,000 feet of lateral capital development over a 24-month contract period; Delivery of full development stopes by Q3 2023 to provide sufficient faces and stopes to restart and maintain nameplate milling operations (approximately 5,000 tpd); and Nevada Copper’s operating team will perform all stope mining starting in Q3 2023.
The Company awarded Dumas Contracting USA, Inc. (“Dumas”) the construction contract to complete critical capital projects including the coarse ore bin and installation of an underground jaw crusher, permanent dewatering system, vent shaft stripping and surface fans.
The final stripping of the vent shaft commenced in January in preparation for connection of the surface fans, which are expected to be commissioned in early Q2 2023. The stripping is planned to be completed ahead of development contractor mobilization and the vent shaft is expected to provide the necessary ventilation for the life of the mine. The additional ore handling system allows for increased ore throughput rates to the shaft hoisting system, enabling operations to ultimately exceed nameplate production. Engineering for ore handling system has been completed, and all long-lead items are on-site including the jaw crusher. Excavation is underway and planning for the installation of the system has already commenced. The pumps for the permanent dewatering system are on site and ready for installation. Once installed, the additional pumps are expected to provide all dewatering requirements for the life of the mine.
The Company has completed a thorough review of regional mapping for its Pumpkin Hollow land position and several high-quality targets of interest have been identified. Surface sampling results from the Copper Ridge area have indicated the high-grade potential, highlighted by grades including 5.03% and 5.43% copper that warrant additional investigation. In 2023, detailed mapping, interpretation of recent geophysical analysis and surface sampling are planned to follow-up on other identified high-potential targets on the Nevada Copper land position. The grades identified are conceptual in nature as there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the delineation of a mineral resource.