Rocklands plant’s first native copper delivered to port

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Queensland copper producer CuDeco has delivered the first truckload of native copper concentrate produced from its Rocklands operation’s new processing plant, near Cloncurry, to the Port of Townsville.

The native copper concentrate will be stored at the North Queensland port prior to being shipped to the Zhapu port, in China, under an offtake agreement with China Oceanwide International Investment.

Preliminary analysis has indicated the grade of these first shipments of native copper concentrate to be exported is 80% copper.

CuDeco remains on track to deliver the first shipment of sulphide copper concentrates to the export market in late September or the first half of October.

“Today is another important occasion for all associated with the Rocklands project, with the first truckload of native copper concentrate produced from the Rocklands processing plant transported to the Port of Townsville. This will generate valuable cash flow for CuDeco, which will increase as we ramp up towards the export of sulphide copper concentrates,” CuDeco MD Dr Dianmin Chen said on Friday.

He added that CuDeco was pleased with the quality of the native copper concentrates, noting that it was considered an “excellent result” in the early production ramp-up phase. Grades were expected to improve once the plant reached optimised design performance levels.