26th Nov 2015 10:48
LONDON (Alliance News) - Atalaya Mining PLC on Thursday reported a widened pretax loss in the third quarter of 2015 but said it will achieve commercial production at the Rio Tinto project ahead of schedule.
The Europe-based development and exploration company said its pretax loss in the three months ended September 30 widened to EUR5.3 million from EUR4.0 million in the same period the year before, as its pretax loss for the nine months to the same date widened to EUR21.2 million from EUR8.5 million.
Atalaya said it achieved first production at the Rio Tinto project in July 31, and is on target to achieve commercial production by January 2016.
It noted that the expansion project to increase processing capacity to 7.5 million tonnes per year is 64% complete and will be delivered ahead of the scheduled mid-2016 timeline.
Following a planned ramp-up schedule, processing throughput was increased to 80% of design capacity in October, which led to the production of over 1,500 tonnes of copper in concentrates grading over 18%. Initial sales are expected before the end of the year.
"We are very pleased with the progress on site which is in line with our plans to deliver full production at Proyecto Riotinto, ahead of schedule, while minimising the capital required. We believe delivering ahead of schedule, under budget and with no debt will allow us to maximise shareholder returns as the copper price recovers from the current multi year lows, which we do not believe are sustainable," Chief Executive Alberto Lavandeira said in a statement.
Shares in Atalaya were trading down 0.4% at 65.25 pence Thursday morning.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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