Weatherly International records US$1.2 million loss

April 4-(miningnamibia)-Interim Financial results for Weatherly International plc for the six-month period to 31 December 2007 show that revenue from its operations during the year amounted to US$41.5 million. Weatherly recorded a net loss of US$1.2 million or US$0.29 per basic share during the period.
Weatherly is an AIM-listed resource company with copper mining and smelting operations in Namibia.
Rod Webster, its CEO, said despite the modest loss, he was satisfied with Weatherly's performance as it continues to build up its production capability.
“During the financial period production costs increased, largely due to underground development work at Otjihase, mine commissioning expenses in our Northern Operational Region (Namibia), and to a lesser extent increases in oil, coal and power costs. At Otjihase, time was spent backfilling the mined-out areas of a high-grade block known as Karuma. This will allow for the safe extraction of a number of remaining pillars over the next five years. The Tsumeb West mine was commissioned at the beginning of the half year and the nearby Tschudi mine was commissioned in October,” he said.
On the smelting side, Webster said the focus is on the two-stage expansion project, which has progressed well. Re-commissioning of the first stage, the “Ausmelt” furnace, is progressing on schedule.
He said this would increase the yearly smelting capacity to approximately 35,000 tonnes of copper blister. Stage two includes the commissioning of an oxygen plant in mid-2009 that will conservatively increase yearly production capacity to approximately 50000 tons, he said.