9th Jan 2020 10:59
(Alliance News) - Recently-floated Taseko Mines Ltd on Thursday said it achieved its full-year output target at the Gibraltar mine in Canada, despite operations being hurt by a rail strike in November which impacted shipments of concentrate.
In the year ended December 31, copper production rose by 0.6% year-on-year to 126 million pounds, about 57,152 tonnes, from 125.2 million pounds in 2018. Production of molybdenum, an element often used as an alloy in steel, rose by 13% to 2.7 million pounds from 2.4 million pounds.
Taseko, which began trading on the London Stock Exchange in November, sold 122 million pounds of copper during 2019, down 3.6% year-on-year from 126.5 million.
Molybdenum sales rose 22% to 2.8 million pounds from 2.3 million pounds last year.
Train operators at Canadian National Railway went on strike in November, after months of contract talks failed, effectively shutting down the largest rail network in Canada.
Chief Executive Russell Hallbauer said: "We are pleased to have met the annual production guidance that we provided 12 months ago. We achieved our production target for the year despite the CN rail strike in November, which impacted Gibraltar concentrate shipments for 11 days and also forced us to adjust our mine plan to reduce production due to limited concentrate storage capacity."
Vancouver-based Taseko has a 70% share in the British Columbia mine alongside Cariboo Copper Corp, a subsidiary of Tokyo-headquartered Sojitz Corp.
Shares in the company were untraded in London on Thursday morning, last quoted at 44.90 pence each.
By Eric Cunha; [email protected]
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