Atalaya Mining's Q3 copper production rises after ramping up activities

AIM-listed copper explorer Atalaya Mining reported an increase in production in the third quarter of the year after it ramped-up activities at its Spanish mine.

During the third quarter, production of copper concentrate increased 97% to 8,752 tonnes, compared to the second quarter, at its Proyecto Riotinto plant.

Recoveries rose to 83.6% with a recovery rate of 84.72% achieved during September.

The company focused on ramping up production to 9.5m tonnes per annum as plant availability during the quarter improved over previous quarters and it said it aims operate at capacity by the end of 2016.

About 2m tonnes of ore was processed during the quarter, up from 1.3m tonnes, while the company maintained its copper production guidance of 23,500 to 27,000 tonnes for the year.

In September, the company filed for an updated Canadian national instrument 43-101 technical report for its Riotinto copper project.

Chief executive Alberto Lavandeira, said: "During the quarter we focused on removing bottlenecks in the plant.

“As a result, production reported a substantial increase when compared with the second quarter of 2016 and the recovery rate has rebounded and exceeded our previously stated target rate for the plant. We continue to work towards nameplate capacity which we hope to achieve before the year end."

A total of 3.4m cubic metres of waste were removed in comparison to the 1.3m cubic metres in the second quarter.

In July, the company said that there was a 12% increase in contained reserves, which extended the life of mine to 16.5 years.

The miner also completed a $14m copper concentrate prepayment funding funding agreement with Transamine Trading, privately owned commodity trading company based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Shares in Atalaya Mining were up 9.52% to 92p at 1505 BST.