The Gibraltar Mine is a Canadian

copper mine Copper extraction is the multi-stage process of obtaining copper from its ores. The conversion of copper ores consists of a series of physical, chemical, and electrochemical processes. Methods have evolved and vary with country depending on the ...

operated by Taseko Mines near McLeese Lake in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada. It is the second largest

open-pit Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique that extracts rock (geology), rock or minerals from the earth. Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially ...

mine in Canada and the fourth largest in North America. The mine is the largest employer in the Cariboo region. Gibraltar was originally opened by Placer Development Ltd. of

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

in 1972. The property was sold in 1996 to Westmin Resources which closed the mine in 1998. In July 1999, Taseko Mines purchased Gibraltar and re-opened it in October 2004, taking over operations in 2006. In May 2006, the Phase I expansion was announced. The concentrator capacity was increased from 36,750 to 46,000 tonnes per day (tpd) at a cost of $76 million. The phase II expansion – which began in May 2007 – saw the concentrator capacity increased from 46,000 to 55,000 tpd in a semi-autogenous grinding mill at a cost of $40 million. The mine went through addition upgrades during a third development phase which cost $325 million, increasing the design capacity of Gibraltar to 85,000 tpd. Taseko reported reserves of 2.4 billion pounds of copper and 69 million pounds of

molybdenum Molybdenum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mo (from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'') and atomic number 42. The name derived from Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lead ores. Molybdenum minerals hav ...

in 2007.

References

{{reflist Cariboo Regional District Copper mines in British Columbia Economy of British Columbia Mining in British Columbia Molybdenum mines in Canada Open-pit mines

See also

References