First concentrate production is ‘imminent’ at the Capricorn Copper operation, 120km north of Mount Isa, as a $110 million restart project comes to a head.

“The construction projects have wound up. Most of the major contractors have demobilised,” chief executive officer/managing director Carl Hallion said.

“There is still a project construction presence out there, but it is much smaller and mainly focused on commissioning and operations activity.

“Our full operating crews are in place and we’re running through those final commissioning activities at the moment.”

Lighthouse Minerals and EMR Capital took control of the mothballed Mount Gordon operation from former owner Aditya Birla in October 2015 to restart mining as Capricorn Copper.

Capricorn Copper is expected to produce about 30,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate per annum over a period of 10 years.

As the operation comes online this month, Mr Hallion says the timing has been fantastic for the new owners.

“The commodity cycle has gone pretty well and I think everyone is on the same page that most metals – and copper in particular – are starting to look pretty good,” he said.