Quarterly Operations and Production Update

Weatherly International Plc

Quarterly Operations and Production Update

Weatherly International Plc ("Weatherly" or "the Company") is pleased to present its quarterly update for the second quarter of its 2011/12 fiscal year.

Highlights

·; Central Operations copper production continues to improve, increasing approximately 11% over the previous quarter

·; Grade and recovery increase for a fourth consecutive quarter

·; Restructuring of primary operating contract at Otjihase to help increase production

·; Investigations into optimising the life of mine production of both the Matchless and Otjihase mines (together the "Central Operations") continue

Production

Production results for the quarter are set out in the table below.

Rod Webster CEO of Weatherly commented:

"I am pleased with the continued progress we are making at our Central Operations. We are generating good cash flow which will be used to further pay down our debt and to investigate the significant growth opportunities that exist within the company.

We are taking strong management action to deal with performance issues at Otjihase, with a view to achieving our stated targets."

Central Operations

Copper production from the Central Operations continued to improve. Copper concentrate production increased 14.2% over the previous quarter to 5,714 tonnes whilst contained copper production increased 10.9% to 1,421 tonnes.

The Matchless mine maintained target ore output in the second quarter, and we are confident of the contractor's ability to sustain this going forward. The Matchless ore body width, strike length and grade all continue to improve with depth, as had been expected. 

At Otjihase, mobile equipment downtime significantly hampered production in October and during the early part of November. December mining rates at Otjihase were on target. However, conveyor breakdowns during the Christmas and New Year period meant that much of the mined ore remained underground and was not available to the concentrator before year end. In the absence of these conveyor breakdowns, production rates for concentrate and metal would have met annualised production targets in December.

The inability to deliver ore to the plant has also resulted in an increased cash cost for the quarter of US$5,373/t copper and a year to date figure of US$4,955/t copper.

To address the performance concerns at Otjihase, the operating contract at the mine has been restructured. The primary operating contract has been split into three discrete parts, processing, conveying and underground infrastructure, and mining. Two new contractors have been engaged to manage the processing and the conveying and underground infrastructure contracts whilst the mining contract is retained by the incumbent operator. The mining contract has been modified from a 'cost-plus' to a hard 'cost per tonne' contract in order to sharpen the focus of the mining contractor on safe and reliable delivery of ore.

Expansion of the Central Operations

The total JORC compliant measured, indicated and inferred resource base in the Company's Central Operations, as at 30 June 2011, is 226,572 tonnes of copper.

Given this large resource relative to current targeted production, investigations are continuing on how best to expand production and optimise the exploitation of the resource base at both the Matchless and Otjihase mines.

Commercial

During the quarter, the Company delivered 1,680t of copper contained in 6,697t of concentrate to metal trader Louis Dreyfus. The average LME price recorded was US$8,149/t copper produced, as the Company continues with its policy of forward selling 35% of its production 15 to 18 months ahead. 

As at 31 December 2011, the Company:

(1) held cash of US$7.1m equivalent 

(2) had outstanding forward sales of 3,450t copper at an average price of US$8,972/t equivalent to a 'mark to market' value of US$4.9 million.

The Company's next quarterly operations and production update will be issued in mid-April 2012.

About Weatherly

Weatherly is an AIM listed, copper focused mining company, the principal assets of which are located in Namibia. It currently has two producing copper mines (Otjihase and Matchless),  and is progressing feasibility studies on projects which will enable Weatherly to achieve its medium term strategy of establishing a copper mining business capable of sustaining approximately 20,000tpa of copper at an average industry cost of production for at least ten years.

The Company also has a 25% stake in an AIM listed company, China Africa Resources Plc (CAF), which is currently focused on the development of the lead/zinc project at Berg Aukas in Northern Namibia.

For further information please contact:

Weatherly International Plc +44 (0) 20 7917 2989

Rod Webster, Chief Executive Officer

Dean Friday, Investor Relations

Collins Stewart Europe Limited +44 (0) 20 7523 8350

John Prior, Sebastian Jones