Armada cranks out record volume of copper in Mongolia

Armada Gold (AAU.U-T) reports that the jointly held Erdmin solvent extraction-electrowinning (SX-EW) copper plant in Mongolia produced a record 315 tonnes of copper cathode in July.

The plant is currently producing at its full capacity of 10 tonnes (22,000 lb.) per day, and, since being commissioned last January, has produced more than 1,500 tonnes. At the current rate of production, Erdmin will produce roughly 7.7 million lb. of copper cathode per year.

Armada owns a 49% interest in the plant, with the Mongolian government holding the remainder. The project has a life span of 40 years, during which time the partners will process waste material from the nearby, nationally owned Erdenet mine. The waste material represents both mineralized rock and low-grade ore, neither of which is economically treatable at the Erdenet mine’s existing concentrator.

The mine has been in operation since 1978 and contains one of the world’s 10 largest copper resources, with proven and probable reserves (calculated and reported according to the Russian system) estimated at 1.8 billion tonnes grading 0.5% copper. Armada estimates that, since startup, 694,000 tonnes (or 1.53 billion lb.) of copper have accumulated in surface waste dumps. Of this resource, 163,000 tonnes are hosted in two separate piles of 45 million tonnes grading 0.36% copper.

A second-phase feasibility study will consider designing a larger SX-EW plant capable of producing at least 50 tonnes of copper cathode per day. Meanwhile, a drill program will be carried out on the waste dumps to provide data for further resource verification and material for metallurgical testing, as well as a dump-leach metallurgical test program.

The Erdmin processing facilities are 225 km northwest of Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia. They are accessible by road and by the Russian and Chinese rail transportation network, which provides access to various sea ports in those countries.