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ProjectsCopper Mountain MineSummary
Copper Mountain Mine (“CMM”) is located about 20 km south of Princeton, British Columbia and 300 km east of the port of Vancouver. Copper Mountain Mining Corporation (“CMMC”) owns 75% of the CMM and Mitsubishi Materials Corporation (“MMC”) owns the remaining 25%.
Project Snapshot
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Ownership75% Copper Mountain Mining Corporation / 25% Mitsubishi Materials Corporation
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Location20 km south of Princeton, BC
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InfrastructureRoad Accessible, 300 km from Vancouver
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Deposit TypePorphyry (Alkalic)
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Mine TypeOpen Pit
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Expected Mine Life17 Years*
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2017 Cu Production Guidance75 million - 85 million lbs, plus gold and silver credits
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Secondary MetalsGold, Silver approximately 20% of Revenue
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Resources5 Billion lbs of Cu with precious metal credits
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ProcessFloatation
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End ProductCu (+ Au, Ag) Concentrate
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Employees on Site430
* Based on 2015 AIF disclosure
Table 1 - Resource Summary
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ResourcesTonnageCuAgAuCu Eq1CopperSilverGold
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(0.18 % Cu c/o)M t%g/tg/t%M lbsM ozM oz
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M & I2440.331.360.110.401,78210.670.86
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Inferred2940.281.13*0.12*0.351,79810.681.13
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ResourcesTonnageCuAgAuCu Eq1CopperSilverGold
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(0.12 % Cu c/o)M t%g/tg/t%M lbsM ozM oz
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M & I3870.261.080.090.322,24513.411.16
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Inferred5680.210.62*0.09*0.262,67911.321.64
- Prices used for copper equivalent are US$3.30/lb Copper, US$1400/oz Gold and US$23/oz Silver with metallurgical recoveries of 84% for Copper, 70% for Gold and 55% for Silver. Standard treatment and refining costs applied. *Inferred resources includes mineralization in the Ingerbelle deposit where gold and silver grades have been estimated based on correlation to copper grades from historical production data. Numbers may not add due to rounding.
Table 2 - Reserve Summary
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ReservesTonnageCuAgAuCu Eq1CopperSilverGold
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(0.18 % Cu c/o)M t%g/tg/t%M lbsM ozM oz
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Proven580.381.820.130.474853.390.24
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Probable750.331.200.110.405452.890.26
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P & P1330.351.470.120.4310306.280.50
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ReservesTonnageCuAgAuCu Eq1CopperSilverGold
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(0.12 % Cu c/o)M t%g/tg/t%M lbsM ozM oz
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Proven760.321.510.110.395353.680.27
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Probable1070.270.990.090.336363.410.31
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P & P1840.291.210.100.3611717.150.58
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Low Grade Stockpile260.16--n/a90--
Reserves and Resources were updated as of December 31st, 2015.
The resource and reserve estimation was completed by Copper Mountain mine staff under the supervision of Peter Holbek, P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration and a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Holbek has verified the methods used to determine grade and tonnage in the geological model, and mine plan.
Mine Details
The Copper Mountain mineral claims cover approximately 18,000 acres and consist primarily of 135 crown grants, 176 mineral claims and 14 mining leases. Copper Mountain is located in an area with well–developed infrastructure. The property is accessible by a combination of highways and paved roads, and it is close to the port of Vancouver that provides service for shipment of copper concentrates. The mine is a 20–minute drive from local communities that provide goods, services and personnel.
In 2017, Copper Mountain initiated and completed a summer drill program, to further expand resources on the western side of the Pit 2 area. Additional drilling was carried out in the Saddle area as fill-in drilling to upgrade the resources to assist with longer term mine planning. A deep drilling program was completed at the eastern end of Pit 2 to test continuity of high grade mineralization at depth. A total of 8900m of diamond drilling was completed in thirty-two drill holes.
In-fill drilling in the Saddle area was successful in upgrading the resource and will provide additional details for the current Life of Mine design. Drilling in the eastern end of Pit 2 demonstrated that the high-grade Pit 2 mineralization does continue at depth towards the east. Highlights from Pit 2 East drilling are listed below and include 105 meters at 0.62% Cu, including 75 meters at 0.80% Cu and 9 meters at 3.68% Cu.
Results from this drill program are currently being incorporated into an updated resource model, which in turn will lead to revisions of the reserve model and long-term mine plan.
New Ingerbelle
A review of historical data from the New Ingerbelle Pit has been encouraging and the Company is now drilling the Ingerbelle deposit, located about 1km west of the Superpit. Historically, the Ingerbelle deposit was discovered, developed and mined by Newmont Mines Ltd between 1966 to 1981. The resource at New Ingerbelle is estimated 125 Million tonnes @ 0.31% Cu (Inferred) at a 0.2% Cu cut-off which equates to an additional 1 billion lbs Copper equivalent. Precious metals were not assayed on historical drill core, however production records show that gold and silver recovered grades were 0.17 g/t and 0.8 g/t respectively. Actual head grades for gold were 0.25 g/t using a 70% Mill recovery factor while copper head grades were 0.43%.
A 5,000m Phase 1 diamond drill program was recently initiated on the New Ingerbelle deposit with the objective of verifying historical drilling while also testing both lateral and depth potential of the resource. The goal of the current drill program is to confirm the historical resource which has the potential to add an extra 10 years to the mine life of the operation. A total of fourteen holes have been designed.
Results from the first four holes, out of a total of 14 planned holes, correlate with the block model grades interpolated from historical drilling and confirm the significant gold grades for this area. The purpose of the drill program is to validate historical drill data and increase the deposit size, which has the potential to add 10 or more years to production life.