Taseko Mines Releases Q3 Production Results

Taseko Mines Ltd. (TSX:TKO,NYSEMKT:TGB) announced its Q3 production results, commenting that its Gibraltar mine put out 35.4 million pounds of copper and 650,000 pounds of molybdenum.

Year-to-date the company has produced 108.4 million pounds of copper and 1.9 million pounds of moly — those are increases of 23 and 96 percent, respectively, from the year-ago period.

As quoted in the press release:

The Gibraltar concentrators operated at design capacity during the third quarter, averaging 85,000 tons per day. Total throughput for the quarter was 7.8 million tons, a 15% increase over the same period in 2013. While the quantity of ore released in the quarter was as planned, head grade was below forecast due to high wall stability issues that affected the quarterly development sequence. Mining operations were temporarily shifted to ore faces with lower grade ore. The lower grade ore also negatively impacted recoveries.

Russell Hallbauer, president and CEO of Taseko, said:

In the past, we have encountered challenges when mining the bottom of the Granite Pit. The recent pit wall movement, which was relatively minor, has resulted in plan adjustments which will impact copper production and costs in the short-term. In conjunction with this event, the longer ore haul out of the bottom of the pit has affected our truck fleet productivities, increasing haulage costs. This is a temporary, cyclical situation which will be alleviated when operations transition back to the upper benches of the Granite Pit in the next few weeks. We are currently reviewing alternative mining plans for 2015, with the goal of maintaining a healthy profit margin and cash flow. As part of this review, we are investigating options to address the lower than budgeted waste stripping in 2014, due to shovel availability issues in the first half of the year, and the delayed ore release resulting from the pit wall movement. We have a number of options available to us and will move forward with a plan that addresses these two issues while ensuring the best overall operating margins.

Click here to read the full Taseko Mines Ltd. (TSX:TKO,NYSEMKT:TGB) press release.