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Total mine production of:
Weatherly International plc , the AIM listed integrated base metals producer with copper mining and smelting operations in Namibia, is pleased to announce a production update for the year ended 30 June 2007.
This past year has been a period of substantial reinvestment and restructuring of the Namibian assets, particularly in the mines. For the year to 30 June 2007, total mine production was 29,000 tonnes of concentrate containing 6,300 tonnes of copper with by-product credits of 3,000kg of silver and 100kg of gold. Towards the end of the year annualised production rose towards 9,000 tonnes of copper, which is in line with management expectations and consistent with the ultimate annualised mine production target of 20,000 tonnes of copper by the winter 2007/08.
The smelter operations performed well, despite the shut down 31st July to 1st of September to rebuild Reverb Furnace 1, it produced 22,700 tonnes copper during the year from our own mines, custom tolling and purchased concentrates. During the year, Weatherly signed an agreement with Dundee Precious Metals for the financing and contracting of a major expansion at the Ausmelt smelter which will lift capacity to around 50,000 tonnes of copper by the third quarter 2008. This expansion is underpinned by an evergreen supply agreement. Management is confident that the smelting business is in a good position geographically and commercially to establish itself as a regional custom smelter.
Commenting on the results, Rod Webster, CEO, said “Weatherly has made good progress during 2007 in restructuring and rehabilitating the former Ongopolo assets into a viable business with a strong growth outlook. Mine production is solid at some 9,000 tonnes of copper on annualised basis which is in line with our objectives. We have implemented a number of initiatives and projects across our mining and smelting operations which we expect to start delivering results during the latter part of 2007 and into 2008 when Tschudi, Tsumeb West and Kombat come into production. Full year financial results will be available during the fourth quarter 2007.”