The mill restarted last week and has 160,000 tons of stockpiled material on hand for processing. More development ore and subsequent stope ore will be hoisted through the East North Ventilation Shaft until final outfitting work on the main shaft is completed, which is expected by year end.

The operation is expected to produce up to 60Mlb of copper a year from underground ore.

Nevada Copper CEO Evan Spencer said the workforce had remobilised and the operation had transitioned back into production smoothly.

"We look forward to executing our ramp-up plans and will report on progress in the coming months," he said.

The company said it had implemented additional health and safety measures to address COVID-19 risks during the restart of the processing plant.

Last month the company secured C$97 million (US$71 million) through a bought deal financing to alleviate its "serious financial difficulty".

The company said it would use the net proceeds to fund the restart and ramp-up of production from its Pumpkin Hollow underground mine, repay a US$30 million convertible loan from its largest shareholder Pala Investments, repay other outstanding indebtedness including a further $9.6 million to Pala, and for general corporate purposes.

It said the convertible loan was part of a financial package agreed in March, and Pala had syndicated a portion to an affiliate of Castlelake, Nevada Copper's second biggest shareholder. 

Shares in the company (TSX:NCU) are down about 65% in the year to date at C13c, which capitalises it at $193 million (US$146 million).