Trigon Metals said it has reached a key milestone at the company’s Kombat copper mine in Namibia. The company said that having mined an average of 980 tonnes of ore per day from its underground operation over a 30-day period that it will pause its open pit operations at the end of September, 2024.
Trigon shares advanced on the news, rising 11.1% or $0.07 to 70 cents. Trigon shares trade in a 52-week range of $1.28 and 61 cents.
Trigon is a Canadian exploration and development company with a focus on copper and silver holdings in Africa. Currently the company has operations in Namibia and Morocco. Its portfolio includes an 80% interest in five mining licenses in the Otavi Mountainlands, an area of Namibia widely recognized for tis high-grade copper deposits. In that area, Trigon is focused on the Kombat Mine.
In November, 2022, Trigon signed a definitive agreement with Sprott Private Resource Streaming and Royalty Corp. and Sprott Mining Inc. for a US$37.5 million copper stream for its Kombat Mine.
Under the streaming transaction, Trigon pledged to deliver to the investors 100% of the silver produced at the Kombat Mine. Proceeds were earmarked primarily to expand the plant capacity to 60,000 tonnes per month and complete ongoing works to dewater the mine, develop the Asis West underground mine.
Looking ahead to 2025, the company has previously said the focus remains on underground production from the Asia West underground complex. Trigon projects its copper metal production to range between 5,500 tonnes (12.1 million pounds) and 6,100 tonnes (13.4 million pounds) for the year.
In its latest update, Trigon said it has achieved a key milestone as required under the terms of the streaming agreement with Sprott by exceeding average production of 900 tonnes per day from its underground operations over 30 consecutive days. This threshold was required to be met by October 31, 2025, but has been met 13 months earlier than contractually required.
Following the success from its underground operations, Trigon said it has made the decision to pause its open pit mining activities with effect from the end of September, based on the following supporting factors:
- The successful recommissioning of the underground mine with commercial production declared on May 23, 2024.
- The ability to mine 900 tonnes per day average over a 30-day period.
- The significant grade differential and positive contribution of the underground mining operations, when compared to the open pit operations.
- The current milling capacity constraint at the Kombat mine limits plant throughput to 1,000 tonnes per day, which in turn leads to the preferential feeding of higher-grade underground ore. The company is able to fill any production shortfall by feeding of existing lower-grade stockpiles until such times as underground production reaches full steady state.