Taseko Mines Ltd.’s board of directors has approved plans for a capacity increase at the Gibraltar Mine, according to the company’s press release.
The expansion is expected to bring 350 to 400 jobs during the peak of construction and 140 direct jobs and about 300 indirect jobs after construction.
The development plan (Gibraltar Development Plan 3) includes the construction of a 30,000 ton per day concentrator to complement the existing 55,000 ton per day facility currently operating.
The additional capacity will increase Gibraltar’s annual copper production by approximately 60 million pounds to 180 million pounds
The plan’s capital costs are expected to be $325 million for the concentrator and molybdenum plant and approximately $90 million for mining equipment.
“GDP3 is a good example of management’s continued focus on unlocking value of our long-life assets,” says Russel Hallbauer, president and CEO of Taseko in the news release.
“A key component of this undertaking is our ability to execute quickly and take advantage of the robust copper price environment. Over the past four months our management team has been working on advanced engineering. Construction will commence in early spring and commissioning of the new concentrator is anticipated in [quarter four of] 2012.”
The company has planned a 10-hole drill program to complement the increased throughput of the new concentrator. The drill program, scheduled to begin in the next few weeks, will facilitate the conversion of a significant portion of Gibraltar’s 500 million tons of resources to reserves. Currently Gibraltar’s reserves are 445 million tons.
“Management is very excited about GDP3 in terms of the value it creates for our shareholders and for the economic impact it will have on the Cariboo Region of British Columbia and Williams Lake.”
Go-ahead for the project also requires co-operation of Taseko’s 25 per cent Gibraltar Joint Venture partner Cariboo Copper Corp. The parties are currently in discussions.