April 16, 2009
April 16, 2009, Vancouver, BC - Taseko Mines Limited (TSX: TKO; NYSE Amex: TGB) (“Taseko” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has established a hedging program for approximately 50% of targeted copper production to the end of 2009 from its wholly-owned Gibraltar Mine.
The Company used a producer put and call option - a zero premium cost strategy. Approximately 30 million pounds of copper has been hedged with a price range of US$1.88 - US$2.36 per pound. Under the hedging program, Taseko will receive the prevailing market copper price while within the price range. Should the market price be outside the price range, Taseko will receive a minimum of US$1.88 and a maximum of US$2.36 for the hedged copper. The remaining estimated 30 million pounds of production is unhedged.
Russell Hallbauer, President and CEO of Taseko stated, “Even though the price of copper has increased considerably over the past three months, there remains uncertainty with the world economic outlook. Given this recent pricing strength, we believe it is timely to initiate a hedging strategy that will preserve profitability for Taseko in the event of a copper price retraction, while maintaining upside potential on the 50% of our production that remains unhedged.”
Mr. Hallbauer continued, “With Gibraltar’s total cash costs of approximately US$1.15 per pound and a minimum hedge price of US$1.88 per pound on 50% of our production for the next eight months, we will continue our plans to complete the Phase II capital expansion at Gibraltar. After the completion of this phase, Gibraltar’s annual production is expected to reach 115 million pounds of copper and one million pounds of molybdenum.”
For further information contact:
Brian Bergot, Investor Relations
Direct: 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.