May 9, 2012
This release should be read with the Company’s Financial Statements and Management Discussion & Analysis (“MD&A”), available at www.tasekomines.com and filed on www.sedar.com. Except where otherwise noted, all currency amounts are stated in Canadian dollars. Taseko’s 75% owned Gibraltar Mine is located north of the City of Williams Lake in south-central British Columbia. Sales and production volumes reflected in this release are on a 100% basis unless otherwise indicated.
May 9, 2012, Vancouver, BC - Taseko Mines Limited (TSX: TKO; NYSE Amex: TGB) (“Taseko” or the “Company”) reports the results for the three months ended March 31, 2012.
Highlights
For the three months ended March 31, 2012, Taseko had gross profit of $17.1 million and adjusted net earnings of $1.3 million ($0.01 per share). This compares to gross profit of $25.2 million and adjusted net earnings of $8.0 million ($0.04 per share) for the three months ended March 31, 2011.
Russell Hallbauer, President and CEO of Taseko commented, “Earnings in the first quarter were impacted by reduced sales due to the delayed loading of a marine shipment. The approximate six million pounds of copper that was not shipped in the first quarter was shipped early in April and therefore will augment second quarter sales. Also negatively affecting earnings was a $15.5 million unrealized loss on derivatives as well as $4.3 million expensed in the first quarter for the development of our Aley Niobium and New Prosperity projects.”
“As previously disclosed, first quarter production was lower than anticipated due to ore characteristics, severe winter weather, ground water incursion at the lower level benches and a five-day unplanned shutdown to repair a SAG mill motor. These challenges resulted in reduced mill throughput of approximately 750,000 tons, or four million pounds of copper production.”
Mr. Hallbauer continued, “Following a thorough project review with our engineering firm, it was confirmed that the GDP3 project remains on time and on budget. Mechanical completion is expected in December and commissioning will start at that time.”
Taseko will host a conference call on Thursday, May 10, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time (8:00 a.m. Pacific) to discuss these results. The conference call may be accessed by dialing (877) 303-9079, or (970) 315-0461 internationally. Accompanying presentation slides will be available to download at tasekomines.com. Alternatively, a live and archived webcast will also be available at tasekomines.com.
The conference call will be archived for later playback until May 17, 2012 and can be accessed by dialing (855) 859-2056 in Canada and the United States, or (404) 537-3406 internationally and using the passcode 66610761.
For further information contact: Brian Bergot, Investor Relations - 778-373-4545, toll free 1-800-667-2114
Russell Hallbauer
President and CEO
No regulatory authority has approved or disapproved of the information contained in this news release.
This document contains “forward-looking statements” that were based on Taseko’s expectations, estimates and projections as of the dates as of which those statements were made. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “outlook”, “anticipate”, “project”, “target”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”, “intend”, “should” and similar expressions.
Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company’s actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These included but are not limited to:
For further information on Taseko, investors should review the Company’s annual Form 40-F filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission www.sec.gov and home jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedar.com.