Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals is maintaining its original copper and nickel production targets for the remainder of the fiscal year.
According to a company news release, it still expects to produce 725-770,000mt of copper and 15-17,000mt of nickel in 2020, despite the setback caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of the prime reasons First Quantum is sure of its output is its newly minted Cobre Panama copper mine, which reached full production on August 8 and has produced 25,000mt of copper in the last month.
The firm also increased the indicated mineral resources at its Kansanshi mine in Zambia by 70pc to 940mn mt from 668mn mt in 2015. With the new resource, the mine is expected to process ores amounting to 52mn mt a year for the duration of its 24-year lifespan. First Quantum is also spending $80mn to increase the Zambian smelter’s annual capacity to 1.65mn mt from 1.38mn mt.
The miner also operates the Sentinel mine in Solwezi, Zambia, where monthly copper production was higher than expected in July, reaching 25,000mt of copper from 23,000mt. This increase was attributed to better milling rates and recovery grades from mining activity at the mine.