Colombia's El Roble copper-gold mine produced 2,472 ounces of gold in the third quarter

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 22, Canadian mining company Atico Mining announced the production results of Colombia's El Roble underground copper-gold mine for the third quarter of 2026. During the three months ended September 30, the mine produced 5,420 dry metric tons of copper-gold concentrate, containing 2.083 million pounds (approximately 945 tonnes) of copper, down 7% year-on-year; and 2,472 ounces (approximately 76.9 kilograms) of gold, up 30% year-on-year. The mine processed an average of 802 tonnes of ore per day, up 8% year-on-year, with improvements in both gold feed grade and mineral processing recovery.

During the reporting period, the El Roble mine extracted 52,048 tonnes of ore and the processing plant treated 52,494 tonnes of ore, both down 15% year-on-year. Copper feed grade increased from 1.82% in the same period last year to 1.97%, while gold feed grade rose from 1.53 g/t to 2.09 g/t. Copper processing recovery was 91.4%, essentially stable; gold recovery increased from 63.1% to 70.1%, up 7 percentage points. The improvement in gold grade and recovery drove the quarterly increase in gold production.

El Roble is located in Chocó Department, Colombia, and uses underground mining methods. It is supported by a processing plant with a nominal capacity of 1,000 tonnes per day, with copper-gold concentrate as its main product. In the third quarter, 4,901 dry metric tons of concentrate were actually sold, completing one export shipment, with ending inventory of 2,021 dry metric tons. Quarterly payable copper metal production was 1.987 million pounds, down 5% year-on-year.

Atico Mining is advancing the development and production preparation of high-grade mining areas at the mine, planning to improve production in the next quarter by increasing copper and gold feed grades, while also updating the El Roble mineral reserve report. The current reserve estimate has an effective date of March 12, 2024, with proven and probable ore reserves in the measured and indicated categories totaling 828,000 tonnes at an average copper grade of 2.49% and gold grade of 2.20 g/t. The company is conducting exploration through underground depth extensions and along-strike extensions of the orebody to provide a resource basis for the mine's future mining plans.