OVERVIEW

 

Carmen Copper Corporation (“Carmen Copper”) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corporation (“Atlas Mining”). Carmen Copper has an operating agreement with Atlas Mining and it has exclusive operating rights over the in situ mineral resources and ore reserves of Carmen, Lutopan and Biga mineral deposits, collectively known as Toledo copper mine covering 1,674 hectares. This is part of the Atlas mineral property covering 5,218 hectares, consisting of 3,284 hectares Atlas-owned mining claims and 1,934 hectares of mining claims belonging to claim-owners who have valid operating agreements with Atlas. Carmen Copper resumed the Toledo mining operation in September 2007.

 

HIGHLIGHTS OF CURRENT OPERATIONS

 

LOCATION

The ATLAS Copper Complex is located in Don Andres Soriano (Lutopan), Toledo City, Cebu. Cebu is 365 miles (~570 km) south of Metro Manila and can be reached from the same via air or sea travel for an hour or up to 22 hours, respectively.

 

REGIONAL GEOLOGY

The ATLAS Copper Complex is confined within a 3-4km wide East-Northeast-trending fault block bounded by two steeply dipping mega shears, namely the North Barot and Cantabaco faults. It is underlained by a basement of Cretaceous volcanic and metavolcanic rocks overlain by Oligocene to recent sedimentary units. The copper mineralization is characterized mainly by disseminated chalcopyrite-bornite-covellite deposits, associated with the intrusion of the Lutopan Stock during the early Cretaceous.

 

DEPOSIT GEOLOGY

There are three ore bodies that can be found at Atlas, namely: Biga, Lutopan, and Carmen. The orebodies are lenticular, elongated, and are localized along the intersection of the ENE trending zones with the main North Barot and Cantabaco right-lateral strike-slip faults, and are mostly confined and concentrically distributed around the Lutopan Stock. Currently, only the Carmen orebody is being actively mined.

The porphyry mineralization is associated with the intrusion of the Cretaceous Lutopan Stock, making the Atlas Copper Deposit the only recognized Mesozoic Porphyry Deposit in the country. In addition, the 40°-65° E-SE plunge of the Atlas orebodies has been attributed to the post-mineralization westward tilting of the block bounded by the North Barot and Cantabaco faults resulting from the structural rebounding after release of compressional stresses. This phenomenon is postulated as a direct function of resistive mineralized bodies relative to the unsilicified country rocks.

 

SLOPE STABILITY AND GEOHAZARD MANAGEMENT

A comprehensive slope stability monitoring and geohazard mitigation program is implemented in the pits and other areas covered by mining operations. Daily assessment and monitoring of slopes, as well as installation of movement monitoring instruments along critically identified areas are included in the slope stability program.

Carmen Copper had been in partnership with a multinational geotechnical consultancy firm based in Manila. The partnership aims to further intensify its understanding and management of the geotechnical factors controlling slope stability and risks posed by geological hazards.

Carmen Copper is currently formulating a geohazard mitigation and information dissemination program in order to edify its open pit personnel regarding its dangers and response in times of such events.  Carmen Copper will extend this program to its host and neighbouring communities as part of its corporate social responsibilities.

 

MINERAL RESOURCES

Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) Inferred, Indicated, and Measured Mineral Resource values as of January 1, 2019 for Carmen and January 1, 2015 for Lutopan @ 0.20% Cu cut off are as follows:

JORC Proven and Probable Ore Reserve values as of January 1, 2019 @ 0.20% Cu cut off are as follows:

 

Mining Operations

Cessation of mining operations at Lutopan Pit in 2015 saw the shifting of ore source for the Carmen Concentrator to Carmen Pit.

A total of 736 million metric tonnes of combined ore and waste materials were moved from the Lutopan and Carmen open pits. 160 million DMT or 21% of which consisted of extracted ore while the remaining 78% or 576 million DMT were stripped waste materials. Carmen Copper optimizes ore production through comprehensive grade control and stockpile management programs and schemes while strictly adhering to QA/QC protocols.

extracted ore.

Carmen Copper is continually improving its pool of competent personnel and machineries to ramp-up ore production. As of September 2019, Carmen Copper’s open pit mining fleet is composed of 88 dump trucks, 7 RC drill rigs, 11 excavators, and 15 bulldozers. This allows the production of an average of 45,000-50,000 DMT of ore per day from Carmen Pit.

Milling Operations

Carmen Copper Corporation’s ore beneficiation plant produced a total ore milled of 16,256 million DMT as it ended the year 2018 with an average mill head grade of 0.278% Cu. The plant’s average daily milling throughput increased by 14%, from  39,004 tonnes per day in 2017 to 44,536 tonnes per day in 2018. This resulted to an increased number of shipments by 13%, to 30 shipments for 2018 from  26.5 shipments in 2017. Copper metal content for the year is 84.46 million lbs, while gold is 24,988 oz., representing an increase of 12% and 13%, respectively, from 2017.

Several projects are lined-up in 2019 in preparation for the target sustained annual production of 18.5 Million tons per year starting year 2020. One (1) unit of newly procured tertiary crusher is expected to arrive on site by 4th quarter of 2019. Moreover, the on-going enhancement of primary crusher Line 2 and the re-engineering and rehabilitation of handling systems in STC will further boost the overall crushing plant productivity. The scavenger and cleaner circuits will also be upgraded to modern industry standards that will result to increased total volume, recovery, efficiency, throughputs, and retention time, while decreasing power costs.

In addition, one (1) unit of conventional thickener is being rehabilitated to increase the current overall tailings treatment facility capacity from 55,000 DMT per day in congruent with the mill expansion project. As of July 2019, the average milling tonnage is 48,319 DMT per day at 0.328% Cu. A total of 26 shipments out of 33 planned number of shipments are already achieved.

 

Tailings Disposal Operations

The mill tailings are deposited to the Biga Pit Tailings Storage Facility (TSF), which continues to prove as a strong, safe, and secure facility for the mine. Overflow of excess water due to build-up of tailings mass is being channeled through a decant tower which passes through a series of sedimentation ponds before flowing into a combination of subterranean and above-ground pipelines discharging towards Hinulawan River and ultimately into the Sigpit Creek.

The water discharge permit was issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in 2012. The water at Biga Pit has a PH level of 7.5 to 8 with fish species like tilapia thriving within. There are no reported storage leaks or containment breach at the Biga Pit TSF .

 

Power Supply

Carmen Copper’s operation current power demand averaged at 43MW for the 1st quarter of 2018. This power requirement is projected to increase to 46MW in 2018 and 2019 once the milling plant’s throughputs will stabilize to 48 kTPD. In 2020 onwards, the power consumption is expected to rise to about 49MW when the mine production is at 50 kTPD.

At present, the bulk of Carmen Copper’s power supply is primarily provided by Toledo Power Company (TPC) based on the Energy Conversion Agreement (ECA). This is being generated from its Sangi Thermal Power Plant at Sangi, Toledo City. About eleven percent (11%) comes from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) power, while two percent (2%) comes from Cebu Electric Cooperative (CEBECO III)

The Company has an installed 2 x 5 MW diesel plant which is intended for back-up and emergency use. In addition, Carmen Copper’s power system is also directly connected to the Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) power grid and is drawing power as necessary or when WESM power is cheaper than its contracted power from TPC.

Carmen Copper has a double circuit loop power transmission facility from TPC in Sangi, Toledo City to CCC’s mine site. Hence, CCC has the flexibility and guaranteed stable power supply.

 

Sangi Port Operation

 

From January to August, 2019, a total of 120,561 DMT of copper concentrate, net of weight franchise, was shipped and delivered mainly to smelting factories in China, India and Japan through MRI Trading AG & Transamine Trading AS.

With increasing shipment volumes, numerous enhancements in the port facilities were implemented. These enhancements include the concreting of the 1,224 sq. m Magnetite Bin Flooring to accommodate concentrate deliveries when copper bins are full. The copper bin roofing was also replaced to safeguard the copper concentrates from rainfall. In addition, the structural members of the retractable chutes were modified and rehabilitated to maintain stability and integrity. Furthermore, additional belt feeder and calibration test chains were installed to enhance the loading operation and measure more accurate weightometer readings.
A motorized gangway was also provided to improve performance. As a safety measure, additional fire extinguishers were provided for the purpose of fire protection of the conveying system.