El Valle (Spain) still increasing ore production from CarlesDuring the second quarter of fiscal 2017, El Valle received an amendment to the explosives permit in February 2017 required to advance Carls mine production to planned levels. Production rates at Carls in March 2017 rose by over 130% compared with prior months. Increasing ore production from Carls will allow El Valle to sustain nameplate plant capacity as was reached in December 2016, processing 2,000 tonnes per day.
El Valle continues its focus on improving mine grades while maintaining nameplate production. El Valle expects to increase mine production flexibility through continued improvements to development and backfill rates allowing for access to a greater number of stopes and planning options to improve mined grades – specifically in higher grade oxide zones beginning in the second half of fiscal 2017.
During the second quarter of fiscal 2017, El Valle improved its development and backfill rates by 8% and 55%, respectively. In recent months, some planned higher grade transition stopes were eliminated from the mining sequence due to the increased frequency of geotechnical issues impacting production in these areas. Replacing these transition areas in the near-term mine plan is expected to positively impact physical production and allow efforts to be fully focused on improving grades delivered to the plant.