Kombat Mine underground operations will start after 17 years, and Trigon Metals says the next 12 months will mark a pivotal period.
To better manage the restart, Trigon has reviewed its strategy, mine planning, and capital for both open pit and underground operations to manage restart risks and ensure a high-grade product for the plant.
Trigon Metals has decided to postpone the expansion of its processing plant capacity from 30ktpm to 60ktpm, initially planned for 2024 to 2025.
This delay allows the underground operations to establish a performance track record and be ramped to a steady state of 30ktpm, ensuring a prudent and informed expansion timeline.
Meanwhile, Trigon Metals has reported an operating profit of US$581,518 for the three months and $474,722 for the nine months ending December 31, 2023.
The Canadian company also reported net losses for the three months of US$8,095,812 and US$14,914,218 for the nine months ending December 31, 2023.
Trigon attributed the losses to the non-cash accretion of the Sprott stream advances and property plant and equipment depreciation of US$7,656,790 for the three months and US$12,406,984 for the nine months ending December 31, 2023.
The company, however, reduced the net operational cash outflows from US$5.553.687 for the nine months ending December 31, 2022, to US$2,554,215 for the nine months ending December 31, 2023.
According to Trigon, this attests to management’s emphasis on operational cost control measures implemented pre-production and during the commissioning process.
Trigon Metals says For the quarter, 81,479 tonnes of ore were processed at an average grade of 0.95% copper, falling short of the planned 87,000 tonnes at 1.2% copper.
The Kombat Mine operations were robust in October when commercial production started, but contractor equipment availability challenges affected November production, which was resolved in December.
Trigon says efforts to recover lost production exposed weaknesses in our grade control protocol, resulting in lower grades mined in November and December.
