December 11, 2008
December 11, 2008 - Vancouver, BC - Taseko Mines Limited (TSX:TKO; AMEX:TGB) (“Taseko” or the “Company”) announces a 28% increase in mineral reserves at its 100% owned Gibraltar Mine.
Taseko’s recently completed drill program and engineering study on the newly acquired Oakmont ground which has confirmed an extension of the Gibraltar mineral deposit (Gibraltar Extension) and as a result Gibraltar’s ore reserves have been increased by approximately 105 million tons or 28% to 472 million tons.
This increase in reserves will add roughly 640 million pounds of recoverable copper to Gibraltar’s reserve base of 2.1 billion pounds bringing that total to 2.7 billion pounds of copper, and under present operations extends Gibraltar’s mine life to 2035.
Russell Hallbauer, President and CEO of Taseko commented, “In the world in which we find ourselves today with respect to mineral resource development it cannot be overstated how important large mineral reserves in secure political jurisdictions such as British Columbia are for a company.
With conservative long term metal price projections, our Gibraltar Mine will be operational for nearly three more decades, providing returns to our shareholders, as well as significant economic benefits to our employees and the local communities.
In the near term as a result of metal production increases, low cost hydro electric power, a low and declining tax regime, significantly reduced input costs combined with the Canadian/US dollar exchange rate, Gibraltar’s cost profile will be significantly lower than that experienced over the past 18 months.
With our newly optimized mining plans, our access to efficient rail and port facilities combined with a skilled and motivated workforce, complemented by supportive mining focused government policies we anticipate Gibraltar remaining operational during this period of financial turmoil and weakened copper prices.
This continued increase in our ore reserves supports the business plan we embarked on 24 months ago, whereby we would transform Gibraltar from a high cost swing producer to one that could continue to operate over the long term at varying copper prices.”
Gibraltar’s proven and probable reserves as of December 31, 2008 are tabulated below:
Gibraltar Mine Mineral Reserves As at December 31, 20081 At 0.20% copper cut-off |
||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Pit | Category | Tons (millions) |
Cu (%) |
Mo (%) |
Connector | Proven | 40.4 | 0.296 | 0.010 |
Probable | 14.8 | 0.271 | 0.009 | |
Subtotal | 55.2 | 0.289 | 0.010 | |
Gibraltar East | Proven | 66.8 | 0.286 | 0.008 |
Probable | 33.3 | 0.285 | 0.013 | |
Subtotal | 100.1 | 0.286 | 0.010 | |
Granite | Proven | 186.7 | 0.324 | 0.009 |
Probable | 25.7 | 0.319 | 0.009 | |
Subtotal | 212.4 | 0.323 | 0.009 | |
Gibraltar Extension | Proven | 75.4 | 0.352 | 0.002 |
(new reserves) | Probable | 29.3 | 0.304 | 0.002 |
Subtotal | 104.7 | 0.339 | 0.002 | |
Total | 472.4 | 0.315 | 0.008 |
The mineral reserves stated above are contained within the following mineral resources:
Gibraltar Mine Mineral Resources As at December 31, 2008 At 0.20% copper cut-off |
|||
---|---|---|---|
Category | Tons (millions) | Cu (%) |
Mo (%) |
Measured | 597.7 | 0.302 | 0.008 |
Indicated | 361.0 | 0.290 | 0.008 |
Total | 958.7 | 0.298 | 0.008 |
The mineral resource and reserve estimations were completed by Gibraltar mine staff under the supervision of Scott Jones, P.Eng., Vice-President, Engineering and a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. Mr Jones has verified the methods used to determine grade and tonnage in the geological model, reviewed the long range mine plan, and directed the updated economic evaluation. The estimates for the Gibraltar Extension used long term metal prices of US$1.75/lb for copper and US$10.00/lb for molybdenum and a foreign exchange of C$0.82 per US dollar while the estimates for the balance of the reserves used long term metal prices of US$1.50/lb for copper and US$10.00/lb for molybdenum and a foreign exchange of C$0.80 per US dollar. Mr Jones has reviewed this release. A technical report will be filed on www.sedar.com.
Contact:
Brian Battison
Vice President Corporate Affairs 778-373-4543 toll free 1-800-667-2114 |
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.