Capstone Copper Corp. (ASX:CSC) has announced that sulphide copper production at its Mantoverde mine in Chile has been temporarily reduced following a series of motor failures affecting the site’s ball mill facility.
The first incident occurred on August 24, when one of two ball mill electrical drive motors failed and was subsequently replaced with a spare by the on-site team, restoring operations to full capacity.
However, on August 30th, the mine experienced a failure of the second ball mill drive motor.
With no further spare motors available at the site, Mantoverde’s processing capabilities have been significantly impacted.
Capstone estimates that repairs to the affected ball mill motor will require approximately four weeks.
During this time, Mantoverde is expected to operate at roughly half its normal capacity, employing a bypass mode that the circuit is designed for and has been used successfully in the past.
The company is also exploring opportunities to offset the effects of reduced production, including moving forward with scheduled plant maintenance to coincide with the current downtime.
While the mine continues to operate at diminished throughput, Capstone anticipates that copper concentrate output will be reduced by 3,000 to 4,000 tonnes during the four-week repair period.
Efforts remain ongoing to identify mitigation strategies, determine the root cause of the motor failures, and expedite the motor replacement and repair process.
Capstone has committed to providing further updates as the situation develops.
