Minto Metals Corp. Oct. 12 reported that its Minto Mine in the Yukon produced 7.9 million pounds of payable copper during the third quarter, resulting in approximately 22.4 million lb so far this year.

Located within the traditional territory of the Selkirk First Nation in the Minto Copper Belt of the Yukon, the Minto Mine has been in operation since 2007, with underground mining commencing in 2014. Since 2007, approximately 500 million lb of copper has been produced at this Yukon operation.

The current mine operations are based on underground mining, a process plant to produce high-grade copper, gold, and silver concentrate, and all supporting infrastructure associated with a remote location in Yukon.

"Our third quarter production results highlighted our fourth consecutive quarter of operational improvement as compared to 2021, including a 7% increase in payable copper pounds for QTR-3, and we are confident that we will meet the previously announced guidance of 28-31 million pounds of copper production in 2022," said Minto Metals President and CEO Chris Stewart.

Minto says the steady copper production this year indicates the company's ability to treat and discharge the excess water from the far above-average snowfall last winter.

"As we noted in prior press releases, we have had some water challenges this year and we continue to treat and discharge excess water from our mine site," said Stewart. "QTR-3 demonstrates that we are now setup properly with our Water Treatment Plant and we can discharge clean water while meeting our copper production targets."

In its first quarter report, Minto announced that the Yukon received more snowfall than usual, which generated a significant volume of water across the area.

To manage the situation, the company temporarily suspended its milling operations until the spring thaw ended, ensuring all water arriving on the mine site was properly managed within the mine's water management system and that the environment was protected.

"A lot of hard work by our team, our consultants and our contractors went into making this happen in such a short period of time and I want to thank everyone for their efforts," finished Stewart.

The full third quarter financial results are expected to be released Nov. 17.