Altiplano Metals extracts 11,624 tonnes of mineralized copper-gold material at Farellon during 3Q

Altiplano Metals Inc has reported on its third-quarter results from the Farellon Copper-Gold mine in Chile.

During the quarter, the company said it extracted a total 11,624 tonnes of mineralized Cu-Au material at Farellon and processed 7,635 tonnes at an average copper grade of about 1.38%. 

Sales of 221,518 pounds of copper generated approximately US$561,000 in revenue (after processing costs). 

READ: Altiplano Metals commences underground exploration at Maria Luisa gold-copper mine in Chile

As of September 2021, the company said it had 590 tonnes in stockpiles at the Farellon site to be shipped and 1,400 tonnes of low-grade stockpiled material. 

The low-grade stock will be processed at the APN mill site at a later date to recover the value of the contained copper and iron. The company has currently an additional 1,540 tonnes in process at ENAMI. 

Altiplano said total revenue since the 1Q of 2018 generated at the Farellon operation now represents more than US$7.2 million from the sale of approximately 3,596,616 pounds of copper.

Total tonnes extracted in the 3Q improved by 15% from the previous quarter. Processed material also improved in the 3Q representing a 8.3% increase; however, overall grade declined by 7.3% from the second quarter. The decrease in grade is attributed to further development work in non-productive areas such as advancing the decline and preparation of bench mining in upper levels where a total of 7,970 tonnes of waste was removed. 

Going forward, the company said the current work on the ventilation upgrade is providing an opportunity to establish new mine headings expected to further grade control and output improvements. Completion of this work is expected in mid-December. 

“Our 3Q activities highlight our work on efficiency and sustainability improvements at Farellon by focusing on upgrading underground infrastructure in ventilation, advancing to new operating levels, and conducting underground drilling to confirm continuity of the mineralization at depth,” said CEO Alastair McIntyre in a statement. “This work will guide us to maximizing our output in 1Q 2022.”

During the 3Q, the main operations at Farellon involved advancing the Hugo Decline to reach the new 360-meter level in September. 

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