JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - Aim-listed, copper-focused miner Weatherly International produced 5 780 t of copper concentrate during the quarter ended December 2012, lower that the 6 499 t produced in the previous quarter.

However, while ore treated fell from 87 645 t in the September quarter to 79 330 t in the December quarter, grade remained fairly unchanged at 1.81%, compared with 1.8% in September.

Quarterly production from Weatherly’s central operations, in Namibia, was 5 780 t of copper concentrate containing 1 328 t of copper. The miner indicated that production was adversely affected by poor mechanical availability and the shorter working month in December. Mined grades and metal recovery remained strong with cash costs largely unchanged from the previous quarter at $5 829/t.

CEO Rod Webster stated that the central operations continued to serve their original strategic purpose of providing Weatherly with a platform to generate cash flow, enabling it to pull together a strong operating base and establish a working team capable of driving the business through its next stage of growth.

Meanwhile, the company completed the bankable feasibility study (BFS) for its Tschudi copper project, also in Namibia, which Webster noted would transform the company from a junior to a midsized copper producer and place it onto a growth trajectory over the coming years.

The BFS evaluated an openpit, heap leach, solvent extraction, electrowinning project capable of producing 17 000 t/y of copper with an 11-year mine life. It revealed that Tschudi contained resources of 50.1-million tons at 0.86% copper and a reserve of 22.7-million tons at 0.95% copper.

Over the 11-year mine life, 184 275 t of copper would be recovered from the operation.

Subsequent to the completion of the BFS, Weatherly signed a term sheet for an $88-million project financing facility with financial investment advisory firm RK Capital. The financing agreement was subject to due diligence, which started in January.

During the quarter, the Weatherly board approved a work programme for the development of the Old Matchless mine, in Namibia, which would effectively double the production of the asset that had an already sound operating base.

The development of the mine would also enable the company to make increased use of the underused Otjihase concentrator and reduce the per-unit cash cost of production at the central operations.

“Old Matchless offers us an additional opportunity to reduce our unit costs and give our operating revenues a significant boost through increased copper production,” Webster noted.

Further, Weatherly delivered 1 341 t of copper contained in 5 840 t of concentrate to metal trader Louis Dreyfus during the December quarter at a weighted average price of $8 438/t of copper.

At the end of December, the company had cash of $3.5-million, reduced its loan with Louis Dreyfus to $4.4-million, having made loan repayments of $400 000 in the quarter and had forward contracts of over 3 600 t of copper at an average price of $7 877/t.