According to mining.com, Taseko Mines stated that improved mill utilization at its Gibraltar copper mine means annual production is expected to reach 120-130 million pounds, a significant increase compared to 2024. However, the company emphasized that the production increase will occur in H2 this year.
Taseko owns and operates the Gibraltar copper-molybdenum mine located in south-central British Columbia. The mine is the second-largest open-pit copper mine in Canada and the largest employer in the Cariboo region.
Taseko acquired the Gibraltar mine in 1999 and resumed operations in 2004. The company currently considers the mine its cornerstone asset. Analysts have stated that Gibraltar can support copper and molybdenum production at least until 2044.
On Thursday, the company released Gibraltar's 2024 production data. Company officials reported that copper and molybdenum production for 2024 reached 106 million pounds and 1.4 million pounds, respectively, while copper sales totaled 108 million pounds and molybdenum sales totaled 1.4 million pounds for the year.
Taseko CEO Stuart McDonald said in a press release: "Since completing the planned major maintenance activities in July, Gibraltar's milling operations have been running smoothly. In Q4, mill throughput averaged over 89,000 mt per day, exceeding the designed capacity by 5%, with copper production during the period reaching 29 million pounds."
At the end of December last year, Taseko completed a transaction with Osisko Gold Royalties, revising the Gibraltar silver stream agreement to increase the attributable silver percentage from 87.5% to 100%. In exchange, Taseko received an additional $12.7 million in cash payments.
This revision to the silver stream agreement followed Taseko's acquisition of the remaining 12.5% interest in the Gibraltar joint venture in March this year.
According to McDonald, the additional cash proceeds will help further strengthen the company's balance sheet during the construction of the Florence copper mine project in Arizona.
