December 17, 2012
December 17, 2012, Vancouver, BC - Taseko (TSX: TKO; NYSE MKT: TGB) (the “Company”) is pleased to announce that the commissioning phase of the $325 million Gibraltar Development Project 3 (GDP 3) has begun.
The electrical power distribution and reclaim water systems have been successfully tied in and are now operational and water testing of the new tailings system is underway.
Commissioning will continue into January and it is expected that first ore will be delivered to the new concentrator immediately thereafter, with commercial production targeted by the end of March.
Russell Hallbauer, President and CEO of Taseko, commented, “In the twenty months since awarding the construction management contract, we have successfully built a new 30,000 ton per day concentrator and associated infrastructure, on time and on budget for $235 million. This new concentrator, along with the $90 million of new state-of-the-art mining equipment, will increase Gibraltar’s production capabilities to 85,000 tons per day by mid-2013. Gibraltar will have two distinct production trains which will significantly enhance our operational flexibility. As metal production increases over the course of the year while we ramp up our daily mill throughput, operating costs will decline from those experienced over the latter part of 2012.”
For further information on Taseko, please see the Company’s website www.tasekomines.com or contact:
Brian Bergot, Director, Investor Relations - 778-373-4533 or toll free 1-877-441-4533
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.