Project Overview

The Neves-Corvo copper-zinc-silver mine is situated approximately 220 kilometres southeast of Lisbon in the Alentejo district of southern Portugal.

The mine's active underground mining occurs on five major orebodies. The principle means of mine access are provided by one vertical five metre diameter shaft and a ramp from surface. The mine is highly mechanized and a number of different stoping methods are employed but the most significant are bench-and-fill and drift-and-fill. The treatment facility at Neves-Corvo comprises of two processing plants. The copper plant treats copper ores at a current capacity of 1.0 Mtpa and is currently undergoing a significant expansion to 2.5 Mtpa capacity.

The Zinc Expansion Project (ZEP) was approved in 2017 and is currently in construction. The ZEP should increase zinc mining and processing capacity to approximately 2.5 Mtpa, generating an average of 150,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of zinc in concentrate over 10 years.

New mine infrastructure for the ZEP includes a new crusher station, a conveyor system connecting this to the 700 shaft hoisting facilities, an upgrade to the main hoisting shaft together with extensions to the mines ventilation, pumping and electrical distribution systems. Much of the zinc ore for the ZEP will be mined in deep areas of the Lombador orebody using primarily bench and fill mining methods, with limited amounts of drift and fill. Modifications to the existing zinc plant for the ZEP project include new surface stockpile and feeder facilities, an expanded grinding circuit, expanded flotation capacity, expanded zinc and lead thickeners and filters and associated expansions and upgrades to ancillary services.

More Information

For more information about the Neves-Corvo mine, please visit Lundin Mining’s website at www.lundinmining.com. Cost quartile information is sourced from Wood Mackenzie byproduct cost curves for gold, zinc/lead, copper, nickel, and silver mines.

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