Engineering & Mining Journal

MAY 2018

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REGIONAL NEWS - LATIN AMERICA 14 E&MJ; • MAY 2018 www.e-mj.com Hochschild Reports Record Quarterly Production Hochschild Mining reported record first-quarter attributable production of 4.7 million ounces (oz) of silver, 69,030 oz of gold, or 132,035 gold equivalent ounces. This was achieved despite sched- uled annual stoppage at the San Jose mine. The company hopes to deliver over- all 2018 production target of 514,000 gold equivalent oz. "Hochschild has delivered a strong start to the year with better than expected contributions from Inmaculada and Pal- lancata and our other mines performing as planned," said Ignacio Bustamante, CEO, Hochschild Mining. Hochscild Mining operates four under- ground mines, three located in southern Peru and one in southern Argentina. The results are mostly the result of record out- put at Inmaculada as well as Pallancata. Inmaculada's first-quarter production was 49,781 oz of gold and 1.7 million oz of silver, which amounts to a record gold equivalent output of 72,351 oz and was principally driven by higher than expected gold grades, lower dilution and a contri- bution from products in process from the previous period. At Pallancata, the ramp up of tonnage from the Pablo vein continued according to plan with the operation on track to mine approximately 2,200 metric tons per day (mt/d) by the end of the first half. Average grades from the mix of several veins were better than expected in the first quarter, although this is expected to be only a sea- sonal effect. The operation produced 1.4 million oz of silver and 5,292 oz of gold bringing the silver equivalent production total to 1.8 million oz, a 44% improvement on the corresponding period of 2017. Largo Expanding Maracás Menchen's V 2 O 5 Production Largo Resources has announced plans to expand vanadium pentoxide (V 2 O 5 ) produc- tion at its Maracás Menchen mine in Bahia state, Brazil, from the nameplate rate of approximately 800 metric tons per month (mt/m) to 1,000 mt/m. The expansion is ex- pected to add 200 mt/m of V 2 O 5 production from June 2019. Capital expenditures for the project are estimated at approximately $15.5 million using current exchange rates. Largo plans to start construction of the expansion in June, with an expected timetable to completion of approximately 12 months, including the required per- mitting and commissioning. The expan- sion plan focuses on increasing the pro- duction capacity of the milling, fusion, leaching and filtering areas of the plant. Largo management believes that total production capacity at Maracás Menchen could be increased by an additional 100 mt/m of V 2 O 5 to an aggregate total of 1,100 mt/m if certain other upgrades and improvements are made to the kiln re- fractory. The company has commissioned studies to evaluate this opportunity. Equinox Gold Begins Mining at Aurizona Equinox Gold Corp. announced that min- ing activities are under way in the Piaba Deposit at its Aurizona gold mine in Bra- zil. Construction remains on track to pour gold by late 2018. The mining contractor, - lized to site in March and mining com- menced in mid-April. The majority of the mining fleet is on site and U&M; has filled most of the planned 200 operator and support positions. U&M; is operating two shifts a day and at the start of June will implement a third shift to mine 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Mining activities are currently focused on removing waste from two locations in the Piaba pit and developing access roads in preparation for ore mining in the third quarter of 2018. "Aurizona will be Equinox Gold's first operating mine and is expected to produce on average 136,000 ounces of gold per year over the life of the mine," said Chris- tian Milau, CEO of Equinox Gold. "While the Aurizona operations team is focused on achieving production, Equinox Gold's exploration team is focused on mine life extension and district-scale opportunities." Milau said there is 4 kilometers of strike extension to be tested with upcoming ex- ploration programs and a study is under way examining opportunities to develop the underground potential of the gold deposit. The overall project was 44% com- plete and engineering, procurement and construction management activities were 61% complete at the end of March. Plant construction was 27% complete at the end of March. Construction is proceed- ing on schedule and on budget, with $43 million of the $146 million construction budget spent and $76 million committed at the end of March. The Inmaculada plant (above) in Peru processes 3,850 mt/d to produce gold and silver.

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