How does Mount Polley decide to process?

Gold and Copper

The broken rock in the open pit is segregated into ore and waste based on the assay of rock cuttings sourced from the blasthole production drills.

This assay analysis determines the sulphide copper percentage and gold grams per tonne for material within the vicinity of each blasthole. 

The forecasted metal prices and metallurgical recovery is used to calculate copper equivalent percentage.

A forecast of mining and treatment costs establishes the mining cutoff grade and hence the material to be trucked to the plant for processing.

The plant uses three stage crushing, and conventional rod and ball mills with a flotation and dewatering circuit to produce a copper /gold concentrate.

When the mine is up-and-running, it mine moves 80,000-90,000 tonnes of material per day, the mill has a capacity to process 17,800 to 22,000 tonnes per day (tpd) of ore depending on hardness. Mount Polley concentrates are trucked to facilities at the Port of Vancouver and then shipped to overseas smelters.

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