PRESS RELEASE: With the new approval to its Pine Cove Property Development Plan and Rehabilitation and Closure Plan, company officials said that it will begin using the resource so it can fast-track its mining rate at the pit over the next few months and stockpile the ore.

It is aiming to have the 7-million-tonne TSF in use by early next year.

Anaconda noted the advantages to using the in-pit option, including the lower level of technical and environmental risks, versus a conventional setup with engineered walls. It is also a lower-cost avenue and will save $70 million in capex.

President and CEO Dustin Angelo pointed out that the in-pit facility will strengthen its infrastructure. “Anaconda has generated over $140 million in revenue from the Pine Cove deposit, and now the potential tailings capacity will continue to generate significant financial and strategic value.

“At our current rate of mineral processing, the pit provides tailings storage capacity of approximately 15 years. A long life, in-pit tailings storage facility is the perfect complement to our 1,300-tonne per day mill and deep water port.”

The Pine Cove deposit will continue to be mined during the transition, albeit in adjacent areas, and it is still planning to develop the nearby Stog’er Tight deposit this fall as it works toward an early 2018 start to mining.

Those mines will be on its mining plan over the next two years; long-term, Anaconda said it is focused on making progress with the mineral resource determination at the Argyle discovery and developing its high-grade Goldboro project in Nova Scotia.