JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Weatherly International’s Tschudi mine, in Namibia, produced 4 442 t of copper cathode in the quarter ended March 31 – 4% above the mine’s nameplate production rate of 17 000 t/y.
The openpit copper mine had achieved nameplate production of 17 000 t/y in December and was considering options to increase processing capacity to 20 000 t/y.
"We are very pleased with the consistent production performance from Tschudi during the quarter . . . continuing our record of meeting or beating guidance at Tschudi,” Weatherly CEO Craig Thomas said on Thursday.
He added that the Namibian dollar/US dollar exchange rate movements had assisted the company in keeping its US dollar production costs well below forecast.
However, Thomas believed a focus on productivity and cost discipline by the team on site had also contributed to the “satisfying results” for the quarter.
C1 costs for Tschudi for the quarter were $3 429/t, remaining “well below” guidance of the $4 250/t to $4 350/t for the current financial year.
In December, the company announced an amended agreement with Orion Mine Finance for the Tschudi debt facilities, including certain hedging arrangements to be agreed between Orion and Weatherly during the third quarter of the 2016 financial year.
The result of these arrangements to date was that the average price received during the March quarter was $4 742/t. Planned production of about 4 250 t for the June quarter had been pre-sold to Orion at $4 912/t.
Edited by: Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online
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