October 12, 2011
Vancouver, BC - Taseko Mines Limited (TSX: TKO; NYSE Amex: TGB) (“Taseko” or the “Company”) reports unaudited third quarter sales and production results for the Gibraltar Mine. For the third quarter of 2011, Gibraltar produced 21.3 million pounds of copper and 324 thousand pounds of molybdenum. The Company’s 75% share of Gibraltar’s copper sales were 21.8 million pounds on a payable basis. The Company’s share of molybdenum sales for the third quarter was 239.5 thousand pounds.
A quarter over quarter production comparison is below:
| Q1 2011 | Q2 2011 | Q3 2011 |
---|---|---|---|
Mill Throughput (millions, tons) | 3.2 | 3.7 | 4.0 |
Copper Recoveries (%) | 89.8 | 88.0 | 87.2 |
Copper Production (millions, lbs) | 19.2 | 20.0 | 21.3 |
Russell Hallbauer, President and CEO of Taseko, stated; “Daily mill production has continued to increase with throughput currently over 50,000 tons per day. We expect to achieve mill throughput of 55,000 tons per day by year end.”
Mr. Hallbauer continued, “The Company is well positioned for the remainder of 2011 with a minimum revenue stream secured through our hedging program, and a fully financed Gibraltar Development Plan 3 (GDP3). We are on schedule and on budget for the December 2012 project completion and have placed orders for 50% of the $235 million construction component of GDP3.”
Mr. Hallbauer added, “We are very excited about the Aley Niobium Project. Our extensive 2011 drilling program is now complete, assay work is underway along with preliminary metallurgical studies, and baseline environmental analysis all in support of our objective to complete a feasibility study later in 2012.”
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.