Pumpkin hollow article no news on drilling The Pumpkin Hollow mine is well on its way to opening next year, a Nevada Copper official told Lyon County Commissioners during an update on the mine located southeast of Yerington.
“Yes, there is copper and gold at the end of the rainbow,” joked Tim Dyhr, vice president for environment and external relations. “We are moving forward very quickly to develop that (underground portion of the mine). The goal is to get something in production. That’s our target – to have this thing in production as quickly as possible.”
Pumpkin Hollow will be an underground copper mine operation with an open-pit mine nearby. Production is estimated to start in December 2019, with full operations in effect by early 2020.
A $378 million financing package the company received in December has spurred construction on the underground portion of the project. The package is being provided by Triple Flag Mining Finance Bermuda Ltd., Pala Investments Ltd., Red Kite Mine Finance and Concord Resources Ltd., as well as institutional investors including JP Morgan Asset Management UK.
“The general market is very intrigued with copper right now,” Dyhr said. “For our financing, right now is the right time.”
The mine will produce a copper-concentrate product of about 26 percent copper that will get shipped out for processing. Copper prices are at about $3.24 per pound, up from $2.70 a year ago, according to the Nasdaq.
The next couple of months include design completion of the underground mine and selection of an underground mine contractor, with underground infrastructure construction starting in May.
The mine is expected to employ about 300 people in fields including mining, administration, surveying and engineering, Dyhr said. The initial workforce will be primarily construction – earthwork, steelwork and concrete.
Since the 1960s there has been roughly 1.3 million feet of drilling to delineate the mine’s deposits, Dhyr said. The underground portion of the project is expected to produce 5,000 tons of ore per day and ultimately produce nearly 700 tons of copper during its lifetime. An integrated open pit project at the site is also expected to produce 2,250,000 million tons of copper, although Dyhr did say he expects the open pit will be smaller than originally envisioned.