A massive rainstorm in early March that halted production at the Capricorn Copper mine is set to cost Australian miner 29Metals heavily.
After developing a recovery plan that assumes no production from the mine 120km N of Mount Isa until about Oct 2023, 29Metals has slashed its FY2023 guidance to 7,000-9,000t copper, down from its original 19,000-23,000t, and 40,000-50,000oz silver (previously 180,000-260,000oz).
The company still fears significant impact into FY2024, issuing preliminary guidance of 3,000-4,000t Cu and 8,000-12,000oz Ag for the period from Jan 1 to about end-Mar 2024.
It also estimates costs of its recovery plan to come in at $70-85M in FY2023 and $17-20M in early FY2024.