Operating license for the El Peñón processing plant confirmed
The flow of good news from Altiplano Metals (TSXV APN / WKN A2JNFG) continues. As the company announced today, the Chilean mining authority has now confirmed that the permit for the operation of the El Peñón processing plant is valid until September 2028. An application for a further extension can then be submitted at a later date, closer to the end of the already approved period. Which means that Altiplano can continue to process up to 4,950 tons per month within the approved 42 months. But that’s not all!
The company also announced that 51.5 tons of copper and gold concentrate and 460 tons of iron concentrate were sold in February from the processing of 1,341 tons of feed material at El Peñón. This generated preliminary sales of USD 125,460 last month, which corresponds to around CAD 180,000. In January, 55 tons of copper and gold concentrate and 800 tons of iron concentrate were sold, generating preliminary revenues of approximately USD 150,800 (CAD 217,152).
In the fourth quarter of 2024, Altiplano sold 128 tons of copper and gold concentrate (November 72 tons, December 56 tons). The production of iron concentrate amounted to 1,851 tons, but the company did not enter into a sales agreement with a private Chilean company until the end of January 2025, meaning that sales could only be generated in the following quarter.
Altiplano now processes material from Santa Beatriz
Altiplano is now processing mineralized material from the Santa Beatriz mine at El Peñón, where bulk sampling recently began. In addition, material from two independent local sources is being used to increase the utilization of the plant while the development of Santa Beatriz continues.
According to the company, this will increase the plant’s throughput to 2,500 tons in March. Altiplano expects capacity utilization to rise further in the coming months as new sources of material are to be tapped. The company is working with local producers to ensure maximum plant through put can be achieved. Altiplano’s facility provides a significant transportation benefit for these mines compared to competitive plants. So far, 718 tons have been extracted at Santa Beatriz and delivered to the plant, of which 654 tons have been processed.
Altiplano also plans to start drilling at Santa Beatriz this week. The results are to be used to assess the copper, gold and iron mineralization along strike and to evaluate the potential for expanding the mine down dip. The aim is to increase the extraction of mineralized material in the future.
President and CEO Alastair McIntyre commented: „We are excited to receive our permitting confirmation and thank the local authority’s commitment to mining and mineral processing projects. The permit confirmation provides the operational certainty to source mineralized material and to develop mining assets that will support processing at full capacity. We continue sourcing mill feed from the highly prolific Tambillos iron-oxide-copper-gold district that provides producers a very positive transportation benefit.“
