Capstone's Mantoverde Mine in Chile Affected by Ball Mill Issues

Written by Amir Richani for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Capstone (Vancouver, British Columbia) reported that its Mantoverde mine in Chile suffered two operational setbacks towards the end of August, which will impact its production by between 3,000 and 4,000 tons of copper over the next four weeks.

On August 24, one of the two ball mills driving motors at the mine experienced a failure, requiring its replacement. However, on August 30, Mantoverde's second ball mill drive motor also had a malfunction. "Without an additional spare on site, this has resulted in a period of impacted production at Mantoverde," said Capstone in a statement.

The repair time is projected to take four weeks, though the mine will continue to operate at half capacity by bypassing the ball mill.

The Mantoverde is an open-pit mine located in Chile's Antofagasta province. The asset began operations in 1995. In 2023, the company built an additional concentrator with a daily capacity of 32,000 ore tons and a tailings storage facility, as well as expanded the desalination plant.

Investments in the expansion totaled US$870 million, with commercial copper production from the concentrator achieved in September 2024, with the facility reaching full capacity by the end of the year.

In Q1 and Q2 this year, the company produced 22,540 tons and 25,000 tons of copper (cathodes and concentrate), respectively. Before August's mechanical incidents, the company expected to produce between 97,000 and 112,000 tons of copper from the asset.

Capstone expects to further increase its output in the next few years with the development of the Santo Domingo project, located near the Mantoverde mine. Capstone's goal is to integrate the operations of Mantoverde with Santo Domingo to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

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