Summary

Deposit type

• Porphyry

Summary:

elt of Nicola Group rocks, approximately 5 km long and 2 km wide, that is bounded on the south by the CMS and on the west by the northerly trending Boundary Fault system.

Deposit Types
The Copper Mountain deposit is considered to be an example of an alkalic porphyry deposit. Although less common globally than calc-alkalic porphyry deposits, alkalic porphyry deposits are common in B.C. where they have been extensively studied.

Mineralization
The bulk of the known copper mineralization at Copper Mountain occurs in a northwesterly trending belt of Nicola Group rocks, approximately 5 km long and 2 km wide, that is bounded in the south by the CMS and in the west side by the northerly trending Boundary Fault system. Here copper mineralization occurs as structurally controlled, multidirectional veins and vein stockworks, with peripheral disseminations. Mineralization has been subdivided into four types, as follows:
• Disseminated and stockwork chalcopyrite, bornite, chalcocite, and p

Mining

• Truck & Shovel / Loader

Summary:

current mining fleet consists of three electric shovels, one diesel shovel, twenty-eight 220-tonne haul trucks, three electric production drills, two diesel production drills, and related ancillary equipment.

Mining at the CMM consists of two areas: the Copper Mountain Pits (currently in operation) and New Ingerbelle. There is also a low-grade stockpile that will be reclaimed during the mine life.

Using an effective date of December 1, 2023, the mine life will be 21 years inclusive of stockpile reclaim. During the LOM an estimated 367 Mt of Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves will be milled, 1,179 Mt of material will be mined from the pits, and a total of 54.6 Mt will be reclaimed from the inventory of high- and low-grade stockpiles projected as of January 1, 2024. The mill throughput rate will ramp up to 50 kt/d by 2027 and will remain at that rate for the remainder of the mine life. To uncover high-grade ore early in the mine life, the total material movement will reach 114.0 Mt in 2025 and gradually decrease as the strip ratio improves.

New Ingerbelle Development
The proposed New Ingerbelle development plan involves renewing mining activities in the historical Ingerbelle open pit on the west side of the Similkameen River. The reserves from New Ingerbelle will be processed in the existing milling facility at Copper Mountain and the tailings generated from processing will also be stored at the existing TMF on the Copper Mountain side of the Similkameen River.

New Ingerbelle Mining Development Plan
The New Ingerbelle Open Pit Push-Back and Mine Life Extension (New Ingerbelle Project) development plan includes several key components:
• A three-phase push-back of the historical Ingerbelle Pit
• Constructing two Waste Rock Facilities (to the north and the south of the proposed pit) to accommodate all waste generated from the New Ingerbelle Pit, and a low-grade stockpile to the south of the New Ingerbelle Pit to facilitate a variable cut-off grade strategy
• Developing haul-road access connecting the New Ingerbelle Pit to the WRFs
• Installing a clear-span bridge over the Similkameen River connecting the Copper Mountain and New Ingerbelle haul roads
• Developing haul-road access connecting the Copper Mountain and Ingerbelle sides of the river to allow for ore haulage from New Ingerbelle to the existing mill.

The haul road connecting the bridge to the Copper Mountain milling facility on the east side of the river (mentioned above) will be cut from the original topography and is designed to be approximately 2.5 km long at a 10% grade. This road (the east haul road) will be trolley capable, presenting an opportunity for future study. It is projected that the excavation of the east haul road will be undertaken by a contractor and is reflected in the capital estimate.

The New Ingerbelle Pit will be mined using the planned fleet at Copper Mountain, and no additional equipment will be required for its development. Equipment

Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Summary:

ation is transported from the primary crusher surge pocket up a 1,800 mm-wide variable-speed conveyor where it can be directed either to the SAG-feed stockpile or the secondary crusher-feed surge pile. The feed reporting to the secondary surge pile is reclaimed via two vibratory feeders at a nominal rate of 2,343 t/h via a variable-speed conveyor and is fed to the secondary crusher scalping screen.

The secondary crusher scalping screen is a double-deck screen with a bottom-deck aperture size of 38 mm. All feed passing through the bottom-deck aperture reports to the secondary crushing-product conveyor belt, with all oversize feed reporting via gravity to the secondary crusher. The secondary crusher is configured with a short-head liner package and operates with a variable closed-side setting (CSS) based on the downstream SAG-feed stockpile level. The secondary crusher product combines with the screen undersize and is conveyed to the SAG-feed stockpile.

The fine-ore stockpile has a single reclaim chamber, a live capacity of 20,000 tonnes, and a total capacity of more than 300,000 tonnes when pulled out with mobile equipment. Reclamation of the mineralization from the stockpile is accomplished using three reclaim feeders, with each feeder fitted with a real-time sizing camera. The draw rate from each feeder is variable and is controlled to maintain a constant feed-rate and particle size to the SAG mill.

Major equipment in the grinding and classification area will include:
• Metso Superior MKII Primary Gyratory Crusher, 60 inch by 89 inch, installed power 600 kW
• FLSmidth Raptor XL2000 Secondary Cone Crusher, installed power 1800 kW.

Grinding and Classification
Ore reclaimed from the SAG-feed stockpile is fed to a single variable-speed primary SAG mill operating in closed circuit with a single-duty pebble crusher. The nominal fresh-feed rate to the SAG mill is 2,038 t/h, with a variable pebble recycle-rate of 5% to 10% depending on the feed-ore size. The SAG mill total load is maintained at 24% to 26%, including an 18% ball charge. The SAG discharge is screened via a single-duty, single-deck vibratory screen with 15 mm apertures. The screen oversize reports to the pebble-crushing circuit while the screen undersize reports to the SAG transfer-pump box.

The SAG-mill discharge-screen undersize is pumped from the SAG transfer-pump box to a splitter box, where the slurry is distributed to the three ball mill circuits. Each of the ball mill

Beneficiation

• Crush & Screen plant
• Column flotation
• Flotation
• Dewatering
• Filter press

Summary:

lant has an installed capacity of 45 kt/d via a comminution circuit consisting of a primary and secondary crushing circuit reducing the feed down to minus 40 mm ahead of a semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mill, ball mill, and pebble crusher grinding circuit further reducing the feed size to P80 150 µm.

The comminution circuit is followed by a sulphide flotation circuit that produces a copper–silver–gold concentrate. The unthickened flotation tailings are transported via a gravity pipeline to the TMF, with the sands and slime separation occurring on the TMF’s dam walls via mobile cyclone units. The concentrate is dewatered via two pressure filters and stored on site before transport via truck to the Port of Vancouver for shipment to the final customers.

Process Plant Description
Flotation Circuit
The three cyclone overflow streams gravitate to the flotation-feed splitter box where the mineral collectors and frother are added. The cyclone overflow is split down two rougher trains, each consisting of five OK160 tank cells. The rougher tailings from both trains recombine, and are further processed to recover remaining sulphide minerals via two OK300 tank cells operating as rougher scavengers. The tailings from the rougher scavengers flow via gravity to the tailings dam, and the concentrate combines with the rougher concentrate generated from the two rougher trains and is pumped to the regrind mill.

The combined rougher concentrate is ground in a regrind ball mill to P80 30 µm. The regrind ball mill is operated in closed circuit with cyclones, with the cyclone overflow pumped onwards to the cleaner circuit, and the cyclone underflow reporting to the regrind ball mill. A portion of the cyclone underground is fed to a rougher-cleaner flash flotation-cell where full, liberated, coarse-copper minerals are recovered at final concentrate grade and report to the final concentrate thickener.

The regrind cyclone overflow is pumped to the first cleaner, which consists of three Eriez columns operating in parallel. The first cleaner concentrate gravitates to the second cleaner—three direct flotation reactors (DFR) in series. The second cleaner concentrate is pumped to the final concentrate thickener while the DFR tailings returns to the first cleaner feed. The tailings from the first cleaner are pumped to the cleaner-scavenger bank. The cleaner scavengers consist of five OK70 tank cells. The cleaner-scavenger concentrate is pumped to the regrind ball mill while the cleaner-scavenger tailings are combined with the rougher-scavenger tailings and report to the tailings dam.

Major equipment in the bulk flotation area will include:
• Ten rougher cells, unit model OK160 tank cells
• Two rougher-scavenger cells, unit model OK300 tank cells
• Two first-cleaner columns, 3.7 m (d) x 12 m (h)
• One first-cleaner column, 6 m (d) x 14 m (h)
• Three DFR second cleaners
• Five cleaner-scavenger cells, model OK70 tank cells
• Regrind ball mill, 14 ft

Water Supply

Summary:

ollection points has offset freshwater demand. The expansion from 45 kt/d to 50 kt/d will require an average freshwater draw of 1,006 m3 /h; however, this will be further offset with surface-water collection points activated with the start of New Ingerbelle mining in 2027. The permitted freshwater draw rate from the Similkameen River allows for 1,515 m3 /h of flow, with additional flexibility during periods with surplus or minimal precipitation.

A new reclaim barge is planned for 2024, which will be capable of delivering 4,417 m3 /h as required by the site-water balance expansion to 50 kt/d. With additional surface-collection water routed to the TMF, these reclaim pumps will supply sufficient additional water to the process water tank to satisfy production.

Existing Water Management Systems
From 2019 to 2022, several contact water-collection pump stations were established and upgraded. These pump stations collect water at historically permitted discharge points and return them either directly to the TMF or to the concentrator for in-process consumption. These constructed and upgraded systems consist of:
• East seepage and WRF contact water collection, pond, and pumping infrastructure
• West dam toe seepage collection, pond, and pumping infrastructure
• Adit 6 discharge pumping infrastructure
• SW38/63 contact water collection and pumping infrastructure
• In-pit dewatering collection and pumping infrastructure.

Additional study work is under way for water c

Commodity Production

Operational metrics

Personnel

Job Title	Name	Profile	Ref. Date
Environmental Manager	Colleen Hughes		Apr 18, 2024
Health & Safety Manager	Jeff Zmurchyk		Apr 18, 2024
VP Operations	John Ritter		Jun 13, 2024