JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Weatherly International recorded a loss of $2.65-million for the six months ended December 31, down from a profit of $2.7-million for the prior corresponding period.

The group’s revenue increased by 2% to $19.3-million during the period under review; however, the company’s gross profit declined to $1.25-million from $4.35-million previously, mainly as a result of the reduction in the copper price.

This led to an operating loss for the half-year of $1.6-million after depreciation of $2-million and other associated costs. 

Basic losses a share amounted to 47c for the period under review.

Meanwhile, Weatherly reduced its distribution and administration costs by 12% year-on-year while also reducing its working capital loan from $3-million to $2.5-million, having paid off $1.4-million during the first half of the financial year.

During the six-month period, the company delivered 2 610 t of contained copper at an average London Metal Exchange price of $7 406/t.

Weatherly said, during the period, the company’s two main objectives were to progress the development of its Tschudi project, in Namibia, to ensure the delivery of first copper during the second quarter of 2015, and improve productivity at its Central operations, made up of the Matchless and Otjihase mines, in Namibia, through ongoing changes.

“The company’s drive at the Central operations has been to open new mining areas moving away from pillar recovery towards primary mining, which will enable the company to increase production and reduce production costs,” Weatherly explained.

The company said the new primary mining area, Hoffnung Fault West (HFW), in the Otjihase area, was delivering its first copper, although the material delivered was of a relatively low grade and on the fringes.

“We [expect] grades to improve and volumes to increase over the second half of this year. The company is completing a diamond drilling programme aimed at defining an additional primary mining area at Otjihase, HFW Shoot 2,” Weatherly said.

In addition to the progress at Tschudi and the improvements at the Central operations, Weatherly had initiated a number of other actions to address the poor level of productivity during the reporting period and to further strengthen the company's financial position in the event that the price of copper continued to deteriorate.