Copper Mountain reports buoyant Q2 results

VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – The TSX-listed stock of midtier miner Copper Mountain gained up to 7% on Tuesday, following the company reporting encouraging second quarter results.

The company, which owns and operates the Copper Mountain mine, in southern British Columbia, expects to be ideally placed to take advantage of hawkish sentiments towards global copper markets, having completed planned plant maintenance ahead of schedule during the first half of the year.

“With the additional maintenance behind us in the first half of 2017 an improved performance is projected for the second half of 2017. We remain bullish on global copper markets and with our production on target we are well positioned to benefit from an upswing in the copper price. We will continue to focus on cost control and operational improvements to further strengthen the company's balance sheet,” president and CEO Jim O’Rourke stated.

The Vancouver-based company reported earnings attributable to the shareholders of C$7.2-million, or C$0.05 a share, for the three months ended June 30, compared with net loss of C$1.9-million, or $0.02 a share, for the same period a year earlier.

During the quarter, Copper Mountain sold 17.6-million pounds of copper and 6 300 oz of gold, compared with 20.1-million pounds of copper and 7 200 oz of gold in the June quarter of 2016.

The company completed three shipments of copper concentrate, generating C$67.1-million in revenue net of treatment and refining charges and pricing adjustments. Copper Mountain realised a provisional copper price of $2.58/lb, compared with $2.13/lb a year ago.

During the quarter the mill processed 3.2-million tonnes of ore grading 0.31% copper, to produce 17.2-million pounds of copper, 5 900 oz of gold, and 63 200 oz of silver.

The mill head grade was slightly above guidance for the quarter, and copper recoveries were slightly below plan at 77.5% for the quarter. The lower recoveries are attributable to the coarser grind that resulted from processing more material and from processing some fine-grained ore in the saddle area, the company advised.

Mill operating time during the quarter averaged 82.4% after some planned downtime to replace the bull gear on the semi-autogenous grinding mill in April, ahead of schedule. Downtime for this job was factored into the company’s annual production guidance of 75-million to 85-million pounds of copper.

The TSX-listed stock on Tuesday closed up 4.04% at C$1.03 apiece.