Atalaya Mining plc announced production results for the fourth quarter and full year 2017. For the year, the company reported copper production at Proyecto Riotinto for 2017, the first full year of commercial production, was 37,164 tonnes up from 26,179 tonnes reported in 2016. For 2017 the operation reported a cumulative throughput rate of 8.8Mtpa with average copper head grade of 0.49% and a recovery rate of 85.45%. On a comparative basis to 2016, throughput has increased as operations were stabilised, copper grade was consistent with estimates and recovery has improved materially. Throughput rates and recoveries for fourth quarter were slightly better than in third quarter with copper head grade impacting metal contained in concentrate. Third quarter 2017 reported record quarterly copper production at Riotinto.

For the quarter, the company mining operations are running stable quarter-on-quarter. On a combined basis, ore, waste and marginal ore amounted to 3.1 Mm3 in fourth quarter 2017 versus 2.7 Mm3 in third quarter 2017. The new mining fleet, commissioned during the previous quarter, is now fully operational. Two additional production drill rigs and a 90,000-litre water bowser were delivered to site. At the processing plant, hourly throughput rate has improved compared with previous quarters owing to higher equipment availability. Cu production was 8,622 tonnes compared to 8,938 tonnes a year ago.

For the year 2018, Guidance for copper production for 2018 is estimated to be in the range of 37,000 to 40,000 tonnes.