Chile-focused copper producer Amerigo Resources announced that its Minera Valle Central (MVC) has resumed normal production after completing the removal of 2.2 million cubic meters of water from the Cauquenes historical tailings dam.
The company said in a press release that heavy rainfall continued in the region between August 19 and September 10, causing excess rainwater to accumulate in Cauquenes.
Amerigo added that in order to speed up the resumption of normal operations in Cauquenes, the pumping equipment was moved to Cauquenes to pump water instead of providing stored tailings to the concentrator. During this period, MVC continues to process new tailings from El Teniente.
Annual rainfall in the MVC region is expected to exceed 695 mm in 2023. This figure is about 160% higher than the annual rainfall of 287 mm in 2022 and 247 mm in 2021.
Amerigo now expects MVC to produce approximately 11.1 million pounds of copper in the third quarter of 2023, 2.7 million pounds below the company's revised target of 13.8 million pounds, after MVC was impacted by flooding in the region in June.
"With more than three years of production above guidance, this is an unusual production period for Amerigo," said Aurora Davidson, president and CEO. However, operations are now back to normal. All of us at Amerigo and MVC are working hard to exceed our fourth quarter 2023 copper production guidance of 16.6 million pounds. "
Amerigo Resources is an innovative copper producer with a long-term relationship with Codelco, the world's largest copper producer. Amerigo's MVC operation in Chile produces copper concentrate and molybdenum concentrate by processing new and historical tailings from Codelco's El Teniente mine.
Source：文华财经
