Tschudi restart hinges on US$40m

Consolidated Copper Corporation (CCC) says it will require between US$30 million and US$40 million to restart open-pit mining at the Tschudi copper mine near Tsumeb in early 2027.

The proposed restart is expected to produce more than 14,000 tonnes of copper cathode a year over an initial 10-year mine life.

However, CCC has not publicly confirmed that it has secured the capital required for the restart.

The company expects to complete a definitive feasibility study in September 2026, which will establish the technical and financial basis for returning the open pit to production.

This means the early-2027 restart remains a company target, dependent on completion of the study, securing finance and mobilising mining equipment and contractors.

The proposed return to mining is separate from the processing operation already under way at Tschudi.

CCC restarted the mine's solvent extraction and electrowinning plant in 2024 and has been recovering copper from solutions associated with existing stockpiles and heap-leach material.

The company says the operation had produced more than 7,600 tonnes of London Metal Exchange Grade A copper cathode by June 2026.

CCC says the proposed US$30m to US$40m investment would cover pit dewatering, mining mobilisation and demobilisation, a mobile crushing plant and development of a new leach pad.

The relatively low restart cost is attributed to infrastructure inherited from the mine's previous operating period.

Tschudi has an existing solvent extraction and electrowinning plant capable of processing 2.88 million tonnes of material a year, as well as offices, workshops, fuel-storage facilities, a wash bay, water infrastructure and connections to the national electricity grid.

The mine receives electricity through a 13km, 66-kilovolt transmission line connected to the Otjikoto substation. Power is stepped down at the Tschudi substation to supply the processing plant, crushing facilities, boreholes and other infrastructure.

CCC says the existing processing operation has maintained 97% availability since its restart.

No current employment estimate has been disclosed for the proposed return of open-pit mining.

During Tschudi's previous operating period, the mine employed about 850 people, 98% of whom the company says were Namibian. The number of jobs that could return under the new mining plan has yet to be established.

Resource expands after drilling

The proposed restart follows a substantial increase in Tschudi's reported mineral resource after CCC completed about 50km of drilling.

The company reports an unconstrained mineral resource of 109.5 million tonnes grading 0.75% copper as at 30 June 2026, compared with 38 million tonnes grading 0.82% copper in 2021.

Within the shell used to demonstrate reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction, the constrained resource stands at 46.3 million tonnes.

The constrained and unconstrained resource figures include reserves and should not be added together.

CCC began a new exploration programme in 2023, describing it as the first exploration drilling at Tschudi in 15 years.

Drilling after mining began in 2015 had largely focused on defining ore within production areas.

The company says the deposit remains open to the east, west and at depth.

Previous operation

CCC built the modern Tschudi open-pit mine and processing facilities in 2013 and 2014 at a cost of more than US$80m.

Copper cathode production began in 2015 and continued until 2020, when the operation was placed on care and maintenance.

About 75,000 tonnes of copper cathode were produced during that period.

CCC says lower-than-expected metallurgical recoveries and flooding were among the factors that affected the mine's historical financial performance.

Actual copper recoveries were estimated at about 63%, compared with the 85% forecast in an earlier feasibility study.

The company says its new mining and processing strategy will separate ore types during extraction and stockpile them individually before processing, with the aim of improving recoveries.

Larger sulphide project under study

Alongside the study for the heap-leach mining restart, CCC is assessing a larger development targeting deeper sulphide ore.

The concept involves increasing total open-pit material movement to as much as 45 million tonnes a year and constructing a three-million-tonne-a-year flotation plant alongside the existing cathode operation.

The larger development could increase average production to about 30,000 tonnes of copper-equivalent metal a year over more than 10 years.

That expansion remains under study and is separate from the US$30m to US$40m heap-leach mining restart.

CCC says Tschudi is fully licensed. The mine is about 20km west of Tsumeb.

Immediate milestones include publication of the definitive feasibility study, confirmation of the financing package, appointment of mining contractors and disclosure of a detailed mobilisation schedule.

Until those steps are completed, the early-2027 return to open-pit mining remains a target rather than a confirmed production date.