Atico Mining (ATY.V) has released the production results at the El Roble VMS mine in Colombia, and we have to admit we were positively surprised by these numbers. The total copper production was 3.88 million pounds with an additional 3,436 ounces of gold in the concentrate, bringing the full-year production at El Roble at 12 million pounds copper and almost 11,000 ounces gold.
What’s important here is the fact the El Roble processing plant ended the year with an average daily throughput of 729 tonnes per day, a substantial increase compared to both Q4 2014 and Q3 2015, and in excess of 10% above the plant’s nameplate capacity. The copper grade slightly increased whilst the recovery rates remained stable, but it does look like Atico made a major step forward on the gold recovery rates which jumped from 66.2% in Q2 to 72.7% in the final quarter of the year.
Despite the low copper and gold price, Atico should remain quite profitable and we expect the El Roble mine to be free cash flow positive, even at $2 copper, thanks to the gold production.
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The author holds a long position in Atico Mining. Please read the disclaimer
