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Atico Mining Announces Q4 Results Were Down, But 2020 Annual Results Were Positive For El Roble Copper & Gold Mine In Chocó, Colombia
Posted On February 12, 2021
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Tag: atico, chocó, colombia, copper, covid, covid-19, el roble, el roble la plata, fernando e ganoza, fernando ganoza, gold, minderos sa, otc:atcmf, tsx.v:aty, vms
Atico Mining Corporation (TSX.V: ATY | OTC: ATCMF) has announced operating results for the 3 and 12 month periods ended December 31, 2020 from its El Roble mine in Chocó, Colombia. Production totaled 5.22 million pounds of copper with 2,809 ounces of gold for the fourth quarter and 20.66 million pounds of copper with 10,792 ounces of gold in concentrates for the full year 2020.
“First and foremost, I would like to commend and extend appreciation to all of our employees for their hard work and dedication as we continued to operate safely during these extremely challenging circumstances,” said Fernando E. Ganoza, CEO. “The Company delivered strong production results for the year, achieving the set production guidance despite having to navigate stringent COVID-19 restrictions. We are anticipating that these results along with selling the majority of the scheduled concentrate inventory will lead to strong revenues for the fourth quarter and robust financials for year-end 2020. In the upcoming year, we will continue aggressive exploration at El Roble and La Plata properties to unlock value of the respective land packages while working towards achieving operational guidance for 2021.”
Fourth Quarter and Full Year Operational Highlights
Fourth Quarter
- Production of 5.22 million pounds of copper contained in concentrates; a decrease of 7% over Q4 2019.
- Production of 2,809 ounces of gold contained in concentrates; a decrease of 20% over Q4 2019.
- Average processed tons per day of 870; no significant change over Q4 2019.
- Copper and gold head grades of 3.52% and 2.00 grams per ton; a decrease of 2.5% for copper and a decrease of 19% for gold over Q4 2019.
- Copper and gold recovery of 91.5% and 59.5%; no significant change over Q4 2019.
2020 Year-end
- Production of 20.66 million pounds of copper contained in concentrates; an increase of 23% over 2019.
- Production of 10,792 ounces of gold contained in concentrates; an increase of 3% over 2019.
- Average processed tons per day of 871; an increase of 1.9% over 2019.
- Copper and gold head grades of 3.49% and 2.35 grams per ton; no significant change for copper and a decrease of 15% for gold over 2019.
- Copper and gold recovery of 92.0% and 58.5%; no significant change over Q4 2019.
Fourth Quarter and Full Year Operational Details
| Q1 Total | Q2 Total | Q3 Total | Q4 Total | 2020 Total | |
| Production (Contained in Concentrates) | |||||
| Copper (000s pounds) | 4,947 | 4,956 | 5,540 | 5,216 | 20,662 |
| Gold (ounces) | 2,658 | 2,718 | 2,607 | 2,809 | 10,792 |
| Mine | |||||
| Tons of ore mined | 72,777 | 76,825 | 71,993 | 72,825 | 294,421 |
| Mill | |||||
| Tons processed | 73,374 | 71,804 | 73,603 | 73,500 | 292,281 |
| Tons processed per day | 878 | 903 | 860 | 870 | 871 |
| Copper grade (%) | 3.32 | 3.37 | 3.74 | 3.52 | 3.49 |
| Gold grade (g/t) | 1.94 | 2.02 | 1.93 | 2.00 | 1.97 |
| Recoveries | |||||
| Copper (%) | 91.9 | 92.7 | 91.4 | 91.5 | 92.0 |
| Gold (%) | 59.0 | 58.6 | 56.3 | 59.5 | 58.5 |
| Concentrates | |||||
| Copper and gold concentrates (dmt) | 10,232 | 10,828 | 11,957 | 11,516 | 44,534 |
| Payable copper produced (000s lbs) | 4,700 | 4,708 | 5,263 | 4,955 | 19,629 |
Note: Metal production figures are subject to adjustments based on final settlement.
2021 Operating and Capital Guidance
| 2021 Production and Cost Guidance | |
| Copper (000s pounds) | 20,500 to 21,500 |
| Gold (ounces) | 10,500 to 11,500 |
| C1 Cash Cost ($US)(1) | $1.15 to $1.25 |
Note: Please see “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” at the end of this release. C1 cash cost per pound of payable copper produced net of by-product credits and selling costs.
El Roble Mine
The El Roble mine is a high grade, underground copper and gold mine with nominal processing plant capacity of 1,000 tons per day, located in the Department of Choco in Colombia. Its commercial product is a copper-gold concentrate.
Since obtaining control of the mine on November 22, 2013, Atico has upgraded the operation from a historical nominal capacity of 400 tons per day.
El Roble has Proven and Probable reserves of 1.47 million tons grading 3.40% copper and 1.88 g/t gold, at a cut-off grade of 1.93% copper equivalent as of June 30th, 2018. Mineralization is open at depth and along strike and the Company plans to further test the limits of the deposit.
On the larger land package, the Company has identified a prospective stratigraphic contact between volcanic rocks and black and grey pelagic sediments and cherts that has been traced by Atico geologists for ten kilometers. This contact has been determined to be an important control on VMS mineralization on which Atico has identified numerous target areas prospective for VMS type mineralization occurrence, which is the focus of the current surface drill program at El Roble.
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