Canada-based Trigon Metals plans to restart open-pit mining at its flagship Kombat mine in Namibia in late 2021 with an initial production target of 4,000mt of copper per year.
The update released on Monday follows last week’s report of the company renewing its ECC for mining on its Namibian licenses.
Recent strength in copper prices will likely drive considerable shareholder value at the Kombat mine while longer-term copper price strength is expected to continue, Trigon indicated.
Copper concentrate output is projected to rise to 14,500mt when improved underground ore grades are retrieved along with the addition of planned crushing and milling equipment upgrades that are expected by 2024.
The company noted long lead items for the restart of the Kombat Mine in May, including an order to Xinhai (Yantai) Mining Engineering company. The extended order lead items are on track and shipping from China is slated for Aug 2021.
Additional long lead plant items have been ordered from local Namibian and South African suppliers with the delivery of main equipment planned for September-October 2021.
Contractor equipment mobilization and site establishment will start in Aug 2021. Also, the company is finalizing discussions with a metal trading group for financing and concentrate offtake after Kombat mine production begins.
Final terms are subject to approvals by the metal trader and will be announced later.