Overview
| Status | Care and Maintenance |
| Mine Type | Underground |
| Commodities |
|
| Mining Method |
- Mechanized Cut & Fill
- Overhand Cut & Fill
- Longhole open stoping
- Hydraulic backfill
|
| Production Start | ...  |
| Mine Life | 7.3 years (as of Jan 1, 2014) |
Morococha was placed on care and maintenance in February 2022.
Under an agreement with Aluminum Corporation of China (“Chinalco”) dating back to 2010, Pan American was required to eventually relocate the core Morococha facilities, including the processing plant, to enable the expansion of Chinalco’s copper mine. Company evaluates strategic alternatives for the future of the operation. |
Source:
p. 75
Morococha is owned and operated by Compañia Minera Argentum S.A., a Peruvian company in which Pan American, through its subsidiary Pan American Silver (Peru) S.A.C., has a 92.01% voting interest. In addition, Pan American holds the majority of the non-voting investment shares resulting in a total ownership interest of approximately 92.3%. The remaining interest is held by Alejandro Gubbins and Compañia Minera Casapalca S.A.
Contractors
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Deposit Type
- Vein / narrow vein
- Manto
- Mesothermal
- Skarn
Summary:
Morococha is located in the Western Cordillera of the Andes. The host rocks for the mineralization in the Morococha district comprise schists, volcanic rocks, and predominantly carbonate sediments cut by a series of intrusions. The structures that account for the majority of the vein mineralization in the Morococha district trend predominantly northeast to east-northeast.
The structural setting of the area is dominated by shallowly northwest plunging folds, the most important of which is a north-northwest trending anticlinal feature referred to as the Yauli Dome. Compression gave rise to early northwest trending shears, and the uplifting effect of the intrusion of quartz monzonite stocks produced an arching of the Yauli Dome and an associated phase of tension faulting generally trending perpendicular to the axis of the anticline. This latter set is the most heavily mineralized set of fractures and accounts for the majority of fault hosted mineralization in the Morococha District.
Vein mineralization forms along the dominant system of northeast trending tensional faults.
Replacement manto mineralization generally occurs in carbonate horizons intersected by mineralized veins or proximal to pre-mineral intrusives, and some occurs as structurally controlled irregular chimneys. Mantos can have a significant strike extent where the veins are closely spaced, and can range from less than one metre to up to 12 metres in width.
Mineralization ........
Mining Methods
- Mechanized Cut & Fill
- Overhand Cut & Fill
- Longhole open stoping
- Hydraulic backfill
Summary:
Underground mining operations at Morococha consist primarily of long hole open stoping, and some conventional and mechanized overhand cut and fill. Classified tailings pumped hydraulically to stopes and waste rock are used for backfill where needed. Drilling is undertaken with hand held drills or electric hydraulic jumbo drills and the broken ore is removed using scoop trams. Mining of the wider veins and ore bodies has been mechanized with the aim of improving efficiency and operating costs. This mechanization is continuing on the narrower veins.
In the Manuelita and Sulfurosa areas of the mine, locomotives transport the ore in rail cars from the chutes to the shafts for hoisting. Other locomotives then transport the ore in rail cars to an adit where trucks then haul the ore to the stockpiles at the mill. In the Codiciada and Alapampa areas of the mine, ore is transported to underground stockpiles using scoop trams and then loaded onto haul trucks for transportation to surface via a haulage ramp.
The Manuelita (also known as Yauli) shaft has been deepened, and a new loading system is now available for production hoisting from a new mine level 70 metres below the Kingsmill tunnel. The Manuelita shaft is equipped with two 2.6 tonne skips which feed into chutes at an underground adit level from where material is transported in rail cars by a small locomotive to an adjacent surface truck loading facility. Ore is then trucked to the processing plant. The dee ........
Source:
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Source:
Summary:
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Reserves at June 30, 2022:
Mineral reserve and resources are estimated using a price of $19 per ounce of silver, $2,600 per tonne of zinc, $2,000 per tonne of lead and $7,000 per tonne of copper.
| Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
|
Proven
|
3.6 Mt
|
Silver
|
156 g/t
|
18 M oz
|
|
Proven
|
3.6 Mt
|
Zinc
|
3.95 %
|
|
|
Proven
|
3.6 Mt
|
Lead
|
1.31 %
|
|
|
Proven
|
3.6 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.44 %
|
|
|
Probable
|
3.6 Mt
|
Silver
|
158 g/t
|
18 M oz
|
|
Probable
|
3.6 Mt
|
Zinc
|
3.78 %
|
|
|
Probable
|
3.6 Mt
|
Lead
|
1.43 %
|
|
|
Probable
|
3.6 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.32 %
|
|
|
Measured
|
0.65 Mt
|
Silver
|
130 g/t
|
2.9 M oz
|
|
Measured
|
0.65 Mt
|
Zinc
|
2.59 %
|
|
|
Measured
|
0.65 Mt
|
Lead
|
0.79 %
|
|
|
Measured
|
0.65 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.64 %
|
|
|
Indicated
|
0.8 Mt
|
Silver
|
124 g/t
|
3.3 M oz
|
|
Indicated
|
0.8 Mt
|
Zinc
|
2.37 %
|
|
|
Indicated
|
0.8 Mt
|
Lead
|
0.74 %
|
|
|
Indicated
|
0.8 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.61 %
|
|
|
Inferred
|
5.6 Mt
|
Silver
|
143 g/t
|
26 M oz
|
|
Inferred
|
5.6 Mt
|
Zinc
|
3.74 %
|
|
|
Inferred
|
5.6 Mt
|
Lead
|
1.28 %
|
|
|
Inferred
|
5.6 Mt
|
Copper
|
0.35 %
|
|
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