Quardra Mining’s New Carlota Copper Mine Near Globe-Miami Facts:

July 17, 2008

Quardra Mining’s New Carlota Copper Mine Near Globe-Miami Facts:

Vancouver based Quadra Mining Ltd.  is getting closer to starting actual production at its new open pit copper west of Miami. A progress report on the Carlota project is anticipated on August 14 when Paul Blythe, president and chief executive of Quadra,  releases the company’s second quarter financial report from         Canada. The following mine facts on Globe-Miami’s newest  copper mine are from www.quadramining.com.

Location: Globe Miami, AZ,     Ownership: 100%

Type of Mine: Open Pit

Type of Ore body: Copper oxide, supergene, exotic

Primary Metal: Copper

Processing: Run of Mine Heap Leach with SX/EW

End Product: Cathode Copper

Expected mine life: 11 years from mid-2008

Employees:   220

The Carlota mine is located within the Globe-Miami mining district of Arizona, approximately 80 miles east of Phoenix and is a project that is permitted, fully financed and in construction.

History:

From the early 1900’s to the late 1980’s, Carlota saw some minor underground mining and underwent exploration and assessment activities by a series of owners. In 1991 Cambior acquired the property and began  development studies towards feasibility and permitting. Cambior spent approximately $68 million and almost 14 years moving the Carlota project through permitting and feasibility studies in readiness for commencement of construction.

Quadra acquired the Carlota project from Cambior Inc in late 2005. Following a project review that included infill drilling, engineering studies, detailed cost estimation and infrastructure development, Quadra produced an updated Nl 43-101 technical report and received board of directors approval to proceed with development in November 2006.

In early 2007, the net proceeds of a US $200 million term loan were secured to fund the construction and development of the Carlota project.  Construction is proceeding on schedule with the first production of copper cathode expected in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Estimated Operating Parameters:

Mining is by conventional open pit methods, using drilling, blasting, loading and truck haulage of ore and waste. LME grade copper cathode will be produced onsite by the heap leach, SX-EW process. The electrowinning plant design has a capacity of 34,000 tonnes (75 million pounds) of copper cathode per year. The mine life is nine years plus two years of residual leach.

Copper production projections from the Carlota mineable reserves are based on a yearly mining rate of 28 million tons of total material moved, which is the maximum material that can be moved annually under the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Carlota Air Quality Permit.

Ore Reserves - Life of Mine: 77.5 million tons

Average Grade: 0.45% 

Total Cu

Average Recovery - Life of Mine 80%.

Production Rate: 6 to 9 million tonnes of ore/annum.

Average Copper Production: 65.7 million pounds Cu/year

Total Waste - Life of Mine:1.67 million tons

Stripping Ratio (Waste to Ore): 2:1

Capital Costs (excluding working capital): $198 million

Working Capital  Costs: $29 million

Average LOM: $1.55/lb Cu

Cash Costs

* As of the 2005 Nl 43-101 Technical Report with cash costs adjusted based on managements view of current inputs.

Health and Saftey:

There have been no Lost Time Accidents or Reportable Incidents at the Carlota project since the company commenced construction in 2007.

Carlota Outlook:

Construction is budgeted over 18 months and targeted over 15 months and as the development of the project progresses, the company anticipates copper production to commence in the second half of 2008.

 

 

 

       

Posted by Rita | Filed Under News 

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