Copper Mountain Mining Corporation (TSX: CUM) (the “Company” or “Copper Mountain”) announces that construction work on the Company’s Copper Mountain Project is nearing completion. The Company has now commissioned the new primary crusher and overland conveyor system. Over the past weekend the Company crushed ore which was conveyed to the coarse ore stockpile in preparation of the concentrator start up. The project continues to proceed on schedule and as planned with construction expected to be completed by the end of April 2011, commissioning of equipment is scheduled to occur during May 2011, and full production is scheduled to be achieved by the end of June 2011.The first ore was delivered to the primary crusher over the past weekend and everything went as planned. The Company has been stock piling ore as part of preproduction mining activities. With commissioning of the primary crusher complete, the Company is able to build its crushed ore stock pile in preparation for start up of the concentrator.
Assembly of the second PC 8000 hydraulic shovel has been completed and is being put into service. The two PC 8000 shovels are the main loading units for the mine. A total of 12 out of 13 (240 ton) haul trucks have been assembled and commissioned and are now in operation, with the final 13th haul truck to be assembled by the end of the month.
The PC 8000 shovel’s are performing as expected and are loading the 240 ton trucks to meet our planned mining rate of 160,000 tonnes per day. Pre-production mining activities commenced in the Pit 3 area with the first PC 8000 unit on the western wall and now the second PC 8000 is in operation on the eastern wall push-back. Construction activities within the concentrator are well advanced with most of the work being directed at completion of piping and electrical tasks. Installation of the grinding mills is progressing as planned with pressure testing of hydraulic lube lines and the installation of the SAG liners. The grinding mills are expected to be ready for testing by the end of April. A commissioning team has been established for testing the plant equipment as it is completed by the contractor. The project currently has 520 workers on site, of which 240 are Copper Mountain personnel and the rest associated with the construction activities. At full production, the project will employ 271 personnel.