Australian gold-copper miner Oz Minerals’ Brazilian operations may not be able to meet its annual production guidance for copper this year due to the second wave of rising COVID-19 cases in the country.
Ore processing at the Carajas East Hub is expected to be on the lower end or not meet the 10,000-15,000mt copper production guidance because of disruptions at the Pedra Branca mine, the company noted in its Q1 2020 earnings report on Apr 22.
However, mining and milling operations at Prominent Hill and Carrapateena in Australia continue to expand and will buoy overall production rates, which are expected at 120,000-145,000mt in 2021.
In Q1 2021, Oz Minerals produced 26,842mt of copper, up by 32.8pc compared with 20,231mt in last year’s quarter. The company noted that it was well underway with the development of its Musgrave project. It expects to mine 12mn mt of copper ore each year at the site, with a total resource estimate of 340mn mt, grading 0.36pc copper and 0.33pc nickel.