Trigon Metals Inc. has announced the production of its first copper concentrate from its Kombat Mine in Namibia.
The milestone was reached as 436 tonnes of ore underwent processing within the mill, approaching nearly 44% of its capacity.
Earlier this month, the company declared the complete resumption of milling and processing activities at the Kombat Mine, marking substantial progress towards meeting commercial production goals by the end of September.
“The company produced its first sale-ready dried copper concentrate for sale at the mill, which has a capacity of 1,000 tonnes per day, on Monday, August 21, 2023, the first full day of concentrate production. 436 tonnes of ore were processed through the mill (nearly 44% of capacity), and the company is targeting 70% production by the end of September,” the company announced.
In the commissioning stage, the Canadian exploration and mining development company said the mill was purposely fed lower-grade material (average feed grade of 0.73% copper) rescued from waste, as identified by ore spotters.
“The utilization of low-grade feed makes the result stand out as more impressive, having produced a concentrate grade of 33.5% copper at recoveries of 79.5%. The resulting concentrate has exceeded the expected grade of 20%, and recoveries have the potential to improve with higher-grade feed. A higher-grade concentrate translates directly to higher profitability due to lower shipment and treatment charges per pound of copper produced,” Trigon said.
“The mill is performing very well. This level of efficiency on our starter feed puts us in an excellent position as we start to feed our target grades,” said Fanie Müller, Trigon’s VP Operations and Kombat Mine manager.
The company said stockpiles on the run-of-mine pad now total 27,000 tonnes of ore, averaging close to 1.2% Cu, representing one month’s supply of ore feed.
Trigon resumed operations at the Kombat mine in March after suspending operations last year.
The hiatus, according to the company, was utilized to reconfigure the mine plan, prioritize higher-grade and more consistent orebodies found in the Kavango pit and Kombat trend mineralization.
Trigon is a publicly traded company with its core business focused on copper and silver holdings and operations in Namibia and Morocco.
