Deposit Type
Uchucchacua is a polymetallic epithermal deposit of veins (fracture filling) and metasomatic replacement, emplaced in carbonate rocks of the Jumasha Formation. Mineralization is complex, occurring in multiple stages or pulses, controlled by well-defined vein structures, replacement bodies or shoots and skarn.

Mineralization
Uchucchacua is a polymetallic deposit associated with replacement bodies and veins. Its mineralization (Ag, Zn, Pb, Fe and Mn) is located in a sequence of carbonate rocks of the Upper Cretaceous Jumasha Formation.

The mineralization processes at Uchucchacua have been complex and multiple, therefore its mineralogy is unusually varied. Among the main mineral groups are: Oxides, Silicates, Carbonates, Sulfides and Sulfosalts. Among the main ore minerals, we have: Galena, Proustite, Argentite, Pyrargyrite, Native Silver, Sphalerite, Marmatite, Jamesonite, Polybasite, Boulangerite, Chalcopyrite, Covellite, Jalpaite, Stromeyerite, Golfieldite. Gangue minerals include Pyrite, Alabandite, Rhodochrosite, Calcite, Pyrrhotite, Fluorite, Psilomelane, Pyrolusite, Johansonite, Bustamite, Arsenopyrite, Marcasite, Magnetite, Stibnite, Quartz, Orpiment, Realgar, Benavidesite, Tephroite and Gypsum.

The style of mineralization, in general, is given by fracture filling and metasomatic replacement.

It is important to mention that the silver mineralization with base metals is mainly embedded in rocks of the Juma ........

At the operational level, the Uchucchacua mining unit is divided into five sectors, which are listed below:
-Socorro (Alto)
-Socorro (Bajo)
-Casualidad
-Huantajalla
-Carmen.

Since the beginning of the Uchucchacua operation, the mining method applied has been Cut and Fill. In recent years, a variant of the OCF has been applied to all sectors of the mine- the Bench and Fill (B&F) method- which was mainly used in the Socorro Bajo sector, where this method is 100% applied. This has allowed productivity and production levels to rise.

The Uchucchacua mining unit applies two underground mining methods:
-Bench & Fill with long holes. This method corresponds to an adaptation of sublevel stoping (SLS).
-Overhand Cut & Fill (OCF) with stoping-like vertical raiseboring.

A. Bench & Fill (B&F)
Bench & fill entails longitudinal mining of the vein. A lower and upper sublevel are built, and leaving an ore bench between them, which is mined by long-hole drilling. As the ore is broken from the bench on one face and the ore is cleaned from the lower sublevel, the stope is backfilled from the upper sublevels with detrital fill.

B. Overhand Cut and Fill (OCF)
Overhand Cut and Fill basically involves two activities:
-Stoping: sub-vertical drilling
-Backfill: 80% of the backfill is detrital fill from development/preparations and 20% is hydraulic fill.

In this method, the ore is fra ........

Ore is sourced from multiple vein systems, namely Carmen, Casualidad, Huantajalla, Cancha Superficie, Socorro Alto, Socorro Bajo. Typically, the mining operation uses dump trucks, and in a minor proportion rail cars to deliver is ore to multiple stockpiles located in the vicinity of the primary crusher feed hopper. The stockpiles are sampled and assayed before being selectively fed to the process using front-end loaders.

Manganese is pervasive in Uchucchacua’s ore and is largely deported to final concentrates. To improve the value of its production, manganese is removed by acid leaching Uchucchacua’s concentrates at Rio Seco, a processing facility located in Huaral.

Uchucchacua operates a conventional concentration operation that processes polymetallic ores to produce mineral concentrates of varying quality. The processing plant consists of two parallel processing lines namely Circuito 1 (C1) and Circuito 2 (C2).

The Circuit 1’s final product includes Z ........