The Gibraltar Mine is a Canadian
copper mine operated by
Taseko Mines
Taseko Mines Limited is a mid-tier copper producer located in British Columbia, Canada. It operates Gibraltar Mine, the second largest open-pit copper mine in Canada, and is in the planning stages for several other mines including the Prosperity ...
near
McLeese Lake
McLeese Lake, originally Mud Lake, is a lake in the Cariboo region of British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the Cariboo Highway
Highway 97 is a major highway in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the longest continuously ...
in
British Columbia, Canada. It is the second largest
open-pit mine in Canada and the fourth largest in North America.
The mine is the largest employer in the
Cariboo region.
Gibraltar was originally opened by Placer Development Ltd. of
Vancouver in 1972. The property was sold in 1996 to Westmin Resources which closed the mine in 1998. In July 1999, Taseko Mines purchased Gibraltar and re-opened it in October 2004, taking over operations in 2006.
In May 2006, the Phase I expansion was announced. The concentrator capacity was increased from 36,750 to 46,000 tonnes per day (tpd) at a cost of $76 million. The phase II expansion – which began in May 2007 – saw the concentrator capacity increased from 46,000 to 55,000 tpd in a
semi-autogenous grinding mill at a cost of $40 million. The mine went through addition upgrades during a third development phase which cost $325 million, increasing the design capacity of Gibraltar to 85,000 tpd.
Taseko reported reserves of 2.4 billion pounds of copper and 69 million pounds of
molybdenum
Molybdenum is a chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42 which is located in period 5 and group 6. The name is from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'', which is based on Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lea ...
in 2007.
See also
*
List of copper mines in Canada
*
Mount Polley mine
The Mount Polley mine is a Canadian List of gold mines in Canada, gold and List of copper mines in Canada, copper mine located in British Columbia near the towns of Williams Lake, British Columbia, Williams Lake, and Likely, British Columbia, Like ...
*
Highland Valley Copper mine
The Highland Valley Copper mine is the largest open-pit copper mine in Canada, located near Logan Lake, British Columbia. It is an amalgamation of three historic mining operations: Bethlehem (later Valley Copper), Lornex and Highmont.
History
E ...
*
New Afton mine
The New Afton mine is a Canadian gold and copper mine located west of the city of Kamloops in British Columbia. The mine is underground and is owned and operated by New Gold Inc. In 2019, the mine produced an output of of copper, and 69,000 oun ...
References
Cariboo Regional District
Copper mines in British Columbia
Economy of British Columbia
Mining in British Columbia
Molybdenum mines in Canada
Open-pit mines
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