Harmony increases proposed Eva Copper output 20%

HARMONY Gold may produce more metal from Eva Copper than first proposed as it nears the conclusion of a feasibility study into the Australian project.Commenting in its first quarter production report on Monday, the South African gold miner said it could produce 50,000 to 60,000 tons of copper from Eva.This estimate was based on study work to date which proposes a larger copper concentrator than first contemplated. Milling throughput is likely to be up to 18 million tons a year with all-in sustaining costs “in the middle of the global cost curve”.These findings would be based on feasibility outcomes which Harmony expected to be completed by the end of the year. An investment decision on the project is then anticipated by the start of the 2026 calendar year.Based on estimates by Copper Mountain Mining Corp., Eva Copper’s previous owner, the project was scoped to produce 50,000 tons a year of copper.Harmony said that its drilling campaign had resulted in an increased mineral resource currently sitting at 366 million tons (Mt) grading at 0.4% copper. This makes for production over the life of mine of 1.47Mt in copper and 440,000 ounces of gold.“Current study activities include finalising the mine design informed by an extensive resource drilling programme, finalising process plant flowsheet and technical design informed by further metallurgical test work,” said Harmony Gold.In July, the Queensland government in Australia approved a A$20.7m grant for Eva Copper in terms of its ‘prescribed project’ scheme which Harmony said had sped up the development of the project and which may also involve sizeable supply of renewable power.The gold price remain enormously influential in the first quarter of Harmony’s 2026 financial year catapulting operating free cash flow 60% year-on-year to R5.18bn. Operating free cash flow margins increased to 29% from 22% in the preceding fourth quarter.Harmony registered an average gold price received of R1,360 974 per kilogram, a 21% increase over the first quarter of last year. As a result, gold revenue increased 23% to R18.13bn or $109m in the quarter.From an operational point of view, Harmony continued to recover strong grades from its high quality Tau Tona and Mponeng, the latter recording an “exceptional” average grade in the quarter of 10.70 grams per ton.It resulted in a 28% increase in production from the former AngloGold mine which generated free cash flow of R1.8bn, about a third of Harmony’s total free cash flow for the quarter. Total production was 422, 172 oz, largely flat on the previous quarter.The north and south sections of Tshepong struggled but Harmony pointed out in its commentary that it would continue to allocate capital to its ‘optimised’ (or older) portfolio of mines as they collectively contributed 37% of overall production.The post Harmony’s Eva Copper to produce more metal than first planned appeared first on Miningmx.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com