July 11, 2011
Vancouver, BC - Taseko Mines Limited (TSX: TKO; NYSE Amex: TGB) (“Taseko” or the “Company”)reports unaudited second quarter production results for the Gibraltar Mine.
For the second quarter of 2011, Gibraltar produced 20.0 million pounds of copper and 300 thousand pounds of molybdenum.
A quarter over quarter production comparison is below:
|
Q4 2010 |
Q1 2011 |
Q2 2011 |
---|---|---|---|
Mill Throughput (millions, tons) | 3.9 | 3.2 | 3.7 |
Copper Recoveries (%) | 89.1 | 89.8 | 88.0 |
Copper Production (millions, lbs) | 23.4 | 19.2 | 20.0 |
Gibraltar’s SAG mill direct feed system was commissioned in early June, with ramp up ongoing over the last four weeks.
With metallurgical recovery performance stabilized at current throughput rates efforts are now concentrated on optimizing mill throughputs and incrementally increasing hourly and daily tonnage, working towards the design capacity of 55,000 tons per day.
Russell Hallbauer, President and CEO of Taseko, commented, “Operational improvements at Gibraltar continue as concentrator personnel work to increase daily mill throughput now that the SAG feed system is operational. As mill personnel become more experienced with operating at the higher throughput rate we anticipate re-establishing copper recovery approaching 90%.
We will progressively up mill throughput as we are better able to deal with the larger SAG mill feed. The increase in throughput will be dependent on optimizing recirculating load, ball charge, SAG mill grate discharge sizes, and power draw on the mill motors. Each one of these operational parameters is critical to achieving targeted mill throughput and requires processes and procedures to realize maximum results, which we expect to accomplish by year end.”
Mr. Hallbauer continued, “In addition, site prep has begun for Gibraltar Development Plan 3 (GDP3), with all major milling and mining equipment secured and engineering well advanced. Once complete Gibraltar’s annual production capacity will increase to 180 million pounds of copper and 3 million pounds of molybdenum.”
Note: Gibraltar is a Joint Venture owned by Taseko Mines Limited (75%) and Cariboo Copper Corp. (25%). All figures are reported on a 100% basis.
Russell Hallbauer
President and CEO
For further information on Taseko, please see the Company’s website www.tasekomines.com or contact Investor Relations — 778-373-4545, toll free 1-877-441-4533
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.