Nevada Copper is contending with restricted access to stopes in the East South mining area of its Pumpkin Hollow underground copper mine in Nevada.

Due to operational and geotechnical challenges in late May, difficulty accessing these stopes has resulted in a delay in mining and reduced concentrate production in the June quarter.

Nevada Copper anticipates that it will continue to have restricted access in the months of June and July due to an unidentified weak rock structure in the main ramp to the East South zone.

The company will need to complete additional drilling and undertake geotechnical migration work to reinforce the area before mining can continue.

Most of the stope ore production is now delayed until August, because of the stope problem as well as limited access to the main ramp, slower development than anticipated, and longer backfill cycles.

At the East North mining zone, Nevada Copper has made progress on the second dike crossing, and expects to complete this crossing by the end of June.

The East North zone is the largest mining area in the underground mine and is expected to contain higher copper grades than the East South zone.

Nevada Copper is reducing the size of its contractor workforce to cut costs, while continuing work on the second dike crossing and the open pit prefeasibility study.