El Mochito zinc mine will ship concentrates soon
By Catherine Tymkiw
NEW YORK, Nov 4 (Reuters) - An official from Breakwater Resources (Toronto:BWR.TO - news) said the company anticipates shipping 10,000 tonnes of concentrate within two weeks from its El Mochito mine in northwestern Honduras.
Mining operations were suspended earlier in the week due to excessive rainfall from tropical storm Mitch. No injuries to employees were reported.
''The ability to transport concentrate from the mine to Porto Cortez will obviously be impeded,'' said Colin Benner, Breakwater president and chief operating officer.
''But we expect in the next several days that too will be solved because there are supplies coming in on the road that we need to travel out on,'' he added.
Porto Cotez, located on the north coast of Honduras, houses Breakwater's concentrate. ''They took the necessary precautions and welded shut doors and secured the building in the expectation of extremely high winds. There was no damage to the building and no loss of concentrate,'' said Benner.
''We're in the process now of arranging for a ship to come in and take 10,000 tonnes out in the next couple of weeks,'' he added.
''Where the mine is located is 900 meters above sea level in a valley surrounded by mountains and quite well protected,'' said Benner. ''It has not been easy but everything is in reasonably good stead,'' he added.
There has been some localized ground slides but the concentrator was not jeopardized. The underground facilities experienced abnormal levels of water which the pumping system could not handle.
The water has been maintained and contained with parts of the underground system currently being pumped, according to Brenner.
''Our most difficult situation has been in accessibility to the outside world but that has been pretty much remedied,'' he said.
El Mochito is serviced by the capital, Tegucigalpa, and the major industrial community, Pedro Sula.
Breakwater said it would resume operations when road and bridge access was restored and pumping levels in the mine returned to normal operating levels.
El Mochito produces 75,000 tonnes per year of zinc concentrate, 12,000-13,000 tonnes per year of lead concentrate and 1.2 million ounces of silver.
Separately, Breakwater's Caribou mine in Bathurst, New Brunswick remains shut after a planned maintenance shut down in August was extended.
''Based on the price of zinc, the price of lead, and our successes to-date on the metallurgy of the operation, we decided it would be prudent to keep it down for an extended period of time and do further casting to see if we could prove the metallurgy,'' said Benner.
Pilot plant tests are underway on representative ore samples from the mine. An internal feasibility study is expected to be completed in early January.
''We'll make our decision then,'' said Benner. ''Everything looks positive,'' he added. With the current weakness in LME lead and zinc prices, cost is a consideration. ''If the economics aren't right, then the mine will not re-open,'' stated Benner.
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