Minera Valle Central (MVC), Amerigo Resources mine near Rancagua, in Chile, has resumed normal production after removing more than 2.2-million m2 of water from the Cauquenes historical tailings deposit.

The excess water at Cauquenes accumulated following heavy and sustained rainfall in the region from August 19 to September 10.

To expedite the resumption of normal operations, pumping equipment was diverted to remove water from Cauquenes rather than provide historic tailings to the concentrator.

During this time, however, MVC continued to process fresh tailings from El Teniente.

The yearly rainfall this year at MVC is estimated to be 695 mm, which is about 160% more than the yearly precipitation totals of 287 mm in 2022 and 247 mm in 2021.

Amerigo confirms that the last day of heavy rain was September 10, and that as of September 21, there is no heavy rainfall in the forecast.

The rain season at MVC is typically over by this time of the year, the company adds.

As stated in a news release on September 11, Amerigo now estimates that MVC’s copper production for the quarter to end September 30 will be about 11.1-million pounds.

This is 2.7-million pounds lower than the company’s revised copper production guidance of 13.8-million pounds, issued after MVC was impacted by flooding in the region in June this year.

“After more than three years of exceeding production guidance, this is unquestionably an anomalous production period for Amerigo,” states Amerigo president and CEO Aurora Davidson.

“Operations however are now back to normal, and all members of the Amerigo and MVC teams are working at full capacity to exceed our fourth quarter of 2023 copper production guidance of 16.6-million pounds.

“Amerigo’s financial strength has absorbed the production shortfalls in the second and third quarters, and the fundamentals of Amerigo’s multi-year capital allocation strategy remains in place,” Davidson adds.