Trigon Metals produces first concentrate at Kombat Mine, Namibia
TORONTO, ON – Trigon Metals has announced the first copper concentrates production at the Kombat Mine in Namibia on Thursday. Teams worked through the Christmas period to complete the install of filter presses and run ore through the full production process to achieve this milestone, meeting management’s forecasted goal.
The concentrate produced exceeded the expectations of management, demonstrating that the combination of new equipment from Xinhai and refurbished equipment from the historic operation are operating well.
The feed material for this initial production was sub optimal lower grade ore, while grind size, residence times and reagent use are being optimized, but satisfactory copper grades were achieved approaching 20% copper and over 600 g/t silver, well ahead of expectation at this stage of start-up.
Production continues, building up to first concentrate shipments toward the end of this month, January 2022. A declaration of full commercial production is forecast for March 2022, as the mine production ramps up and systems are optimized.
Jed Richardson, President and CEO of Trigon, commented, “This first production is a tremendous milestone for the Company, the Kombat community and our shareholders. Successful concentration of copper represents a major de-risking of the mine. A functioning mill is the primary technical hurdle in a mine’s operation, and that hurdle has been overcome at Kombat. I cannot overstate how proud I am of our team in reaching this goal; battling through shipping challenges, COVID-19 and working through the Christmas holidays.”
The Kombat Copper Project is the flagship project of Trigon Metals Inc., with the Company’s mining and prospecting licence areas covering an area of more than 7,500 ha in the Otavi Mountainlands in Namibia. The Kombat Project is comprised of three mining licences, which produced approximately 12.46 million tonnes of Copper between 1962 and 2008, at a grade of 2.62%.
The other two mining licences are within close proximity to Kombat at Gross Otavi and Harasib, which are believed to be highly prospective for lead and zinc. In addition, the Company also holds an interest in two exclusive prospecting licences, which represent a potential strike extension of Kombat.
Trigon is a publicly traded Canadian exploration and development company with its core business focused on copper and silver holdings in mine-friendly African jurisdictions. Currently the company has operations in Namibia and Morocco.
In Namibia, the Company holds an 80% interest in five mining licences in the Otavi Mountainlands, an area of Namibia widely recognized for its high-grade copper deposits, where the Company is focused on exploration and re-development of the previously producing Kombat Mine.
In Morocco, the Company is the holder of the Silver Hill project, a highly prospective copper and silver exploration project.
