Consolidated Copper Corporation (CCC) is studying an expansion of the Tschudi copper mine that could lift average production to about 30,000 tonnes of copper equivalent a year, after exploration increased the mine’s resource from 38 million tonnes in 2021 to 109.5 million tonnes by June this year.
The larger development is being considered alongside CCC’s more immediate plan to restart open-pit mining at Tschudi in early 2027, with a definitive feasibility study (DFS) expected by the end of September.
Under the expansion concept, CCC is studying an increase in open-pit mining rates to as much as 45 million tonnes a year and the construction of a three-million-tonne-per-year flotation plant to process sulphide ore alongside Tschudi’s existing solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX/EW) facilities.
The combination could increase average production to about 30,000 tonnes of copper equivalent annually for more than 10 years. However, the expansion remains at the study stage, and no development decision has been announced.
The immediate restart plan is considerably more advanced and targets production of more than 14,000 tonnes of copper cathode annually over a 10-year mine life, with development capital estimated at between US$30 million and US$40 million.
CCC says the relatively low restart capital requirement reflects the infrastructure already in place at Tschudi, including a 2.88-million-tonne-per-year SX/EW plant, offices, workshops, fuel storage facilities and grid power connections.
The expansion plans follow a substantial increase in Tschudi’s resource after CCC undertook the mine’s first exploration drilling programme in about 15 years.
Before CCC took ownership, the resource was largely based on approximately 26km of drilling undertaken in 2006 and 2007. After mining began in July 2015, subsequent drilling largely focused on infilling production areas rather than testing the orebody’s wider extent.
CCC began exploration drilling in 2023 and has since completed about 50km, establishing extensions to the mineralisation along strike and at depth.
As at 30 June 2026, Tschudi had an unconstrained JORC Mineral Resource of 109.5 million tonnes grading 0.75% copper, compared with 38 million tonnes grading 0.82% copper in 2021.
The increase means the resource tonnage is now almost three times its 2021 level, although the average copper grade has declined slightly.
Within the shell used to demonstrate reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction, known as the RPEEE shell, the constrained resource stands at 46.3 million tonnes. CCC notes that the constrained and unconstrained resources include reserves and should therefore not be added together.
The larger resource has given CCC the basis to examine a longer-term development that goes beyond simply restarting Tschudi in its previous heap-leach configuration.
Located about 20km west of Tsumeb, Tschudi was developed as a modern open-pit heap-leach copper operation in 2013 and 2014, with copper cathode production beginning in 2015.
The mine produced approximately 75,000 tonnes of copper cathode before being placed on care and maintenance in 2020.
The previous operation, owned by Weatherly International, faced difficulties, including lower-than-anticipated metallurgical recoveries and a major flooding event in 2018. CCC says actual recoveries were around 63%, compared with the 85% anticipated in Weatherly’s 2012 feasibility study.
Weatherly was subsequently placed into administration, while Tschudi eventually ceased mining and entered care and maintenance.
Those historical problems have become an important part of CCC’s restart work, and the company has identified metallurgy and water management as two major risks to address before open-pit mining resumes.
CCC has undertaken metallurgical testwork and revised the mining and processing approach, including plans to separate different ore types rather than treating the mineralised material in the same way.
The work has been carried out alongside exploration aimed at extending the mine life, which had fallen to less than three years on the reserves available when CCC began assessing the restart.
Although open-pit mining has yet to restart, Tschudi has already returned to copper production.
CCC restarted copper cathode production in 2024 after identifying an opportunity to recover additional copper from stockpiled material left at the mine. As of June this year, the operation had produced more than 7,600 tonnes of copper cathode conforming to London Metal Exchange Grade A specifications from the existing stockpiles.
The company says the restarted processing facilities have achieved about 97% availability.
This production should be distinguished from the planned restart of mining because CCC is currently processing existing material rather than extracting fresh ore from the Tschudi open pit.
The DFS now being completed concerns the next stage, under which mining would resume in early 2027 to feed the heap-leach and SX/EW operation and lift run-rate cathode production to more than 14,000 tonnes annually.
Beyond that restart, CCC’s expansion study is examining how Tschudi’s much larger resource could support a second processing route for sulphide mineralisation.
The concept involves increasing open-pit mining rates to as much as 45 million tonnes annually and constructing a 3Mtpa flotation plant, which would operate alongside the existing SX/EW refinery.
If eventually developed, CCC says the combined operation could produce an average of approximately 30,000 tonnes of copper equivalent annually for more than a decade.
The expansion remains a study concept, however, while the company’s immediate focus is completing the heap-leach restart DFS and preparing for the targeted resumption of open-pit mining in early 2027.
With the resource increasing from 38 million tonnes to 109.5 million tonnes in five years, the longer-term question is no longer whether Tschudi can restart its former operation, but whether the enlarged resource can support a substantially bigger copper mine alongside the existing processing infrastructure.
