IT'S AWAY: Compass Resources general manager operations Bob Young overseeing the first shipment of copper yesterday.

THE first shipment of minerals from Compass Resources Browns project arrived in the port of Darwin yesterday.

A road train was used to haul 69 tonnes of copper from the mine near Batchelor.

The copper was bundled into 2.3 tonne piles - each refined from 250 tonnes of ore.

Each bundle will be worth up to $14,000 on the market.

"This is our first production since we started about a month ago," Compass Resources general manager operations Bob Young said.

The mine will produce 10,000 tonnes of copper a year after it is fully operational in January.

The Compass Resources Browns oxide project employs 100 people, 30 per cent of whom are indigenous.

The company has a contract with Sempra Metals Concentrates corporation in the US.