Get the FAQs on Florence Copper’s Production Test Facility
by Stacy Gramazio | Manager of Communications & Public Affairs, Florence Copper
Florence Copper’s PTF will be a pilot-scale demonstration of commercial ISCR operations. Crews will drill 24 wells for the injection and recovery of ISCR solution.
Nearly 2,000 people have toured the Florence Copper property since 2011. Site tours are a high priority for our staff. This is not a typical copper project, and we recognize that there’s nothing like a first-hand visual experience to get a true understanding of how Florence Copper will operate once the permitting process is complete. Tour attendees visit an existing well field, examine core samples, and watch a demonstration model of the technology that will be used.
On tours, our guests get an understanding that this is “Mining without Impact”: There is no large open pit, no blasting, no tailing ponds – Nothing that you’d typically associate with a traditional mine. Although we are known locally as the Florence Copper Mine, it is more accurate to call us an in-situ copper recovery operation. This deposit lies in naturally shattered bedrock, which allows us to dissolve the copper in-situ, or “in place” without altering the ore deposit in any way.
Right now, the Florence Copper Project is in the advanced permitting stages for the initial phase of in-situ copper recovery (ISCR) operations. We often call this “Phase 1” or the “Production Test Facility.” The PTF will require approximately 40 employees. Essentially, it will be a pilot test facility that will operate for about one to two years.
