COPPER MINING: Copper Mountain ships first concentrate to port

BRITISH COLUMBIA - Vancouver's Copper Mountain Mining made the first shipment of copper concentrate from its new mine near Princeton to the port of Vancouver. The concentrate is transported in 50-tonne super B train truck units. Port facilities are complete, including a truck discharging and storage area.

Exploration of the Copper Mountain property began in 1884, but its was Granby Consolidated Mining that first brought the deposit to production in 1923. Low prices forced the closure of Copper Mountain in 1957. Newmont Mining purchased the project in the early 1970s. Redevelopment began in 1979, and Newmont mined the deposit until 1985.

In 1988 Cassiar Mining (later to become Princeton Mining) purchased the Copper Mountain property and mined it until it was placed on care-and-maintenance in 1993. Prices improved the following year, and the deposit was mined again until the end of 1995. The mine was closed again in 1996.

Copper Mountain (the company) build a new 35,000-t/d milling facility and "super pit" at the site that will have an annual output of 108 million lb of copper plus 27,000 oz of gold and 330,000 oz of silver. The life of the project based on current reserves is 17 years.

Additional information about the project is available at www.CuMtn.com.