Farallon Announces Fourth Quarter 2009 Operating Results
Mill Throughput Exceeds Design Capacity of 1,500 tpd
VANCOUVER, Jan. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Dick Whittington, President and CEO of Farallon Mining Ltd. ("Farallon" or the "Company") (TSX:FAN) is pleased to announce unaudited fourth quarter ("Q4") and year-end production results.
Record production of 23.4 million pounds of zinc in zinc concentrate and 2.4 million pounds of copper in copper concentrate was achieved in Q4 plus additional by-product silver and gold. The total cash costs(1) including transportation, treatment and refining charges and by-product credits have not been finalized but are estimated to be $0.44/lb of payable zinc. The record production was achieved as a result of increasing average mill throughput to 1,550 tpd in Q4, exceeding the mill design of 1,500 tpd.
The mill expansion project at G-9, designed to increase throughput to 2,000 tpd, remains on track for completion in July 2010 and on budget of $5.3 million. Axxent Engineering has ordered all of the key pieces of process equipment and site construction is expected to commence in February. The Company is financing the mill expansion from its current cash balance of $22 million and cash flow generated by operations.
President and CEO Dick Whittington said "The initiatives that were undertaken in the third quarter to improve mill availability paid off and the mill has now been successfully ramped up to full design capacity. With the mill expansion on track to increase production and our exploration program delivering excellent results, we are well positioned to grow our production profile and add mine life in 2010. We are also focused on growing the Company through accretive corporate transactions, with the objective of becoming a mid-tier, multi-mine Company."
Operational highlights for the three months ended December 31, 2009 compared to the three months ended September 30, 2009 ("Q3") are as follows:
- Production of 21,584 tonnes of zinc concentrate and 7,157 tonnes of
copper concentrate containing an estimated 23.4 million pounds of
zinc, 2.4 million pounds of copper, 382,120 ounces of silver and
4,224 ounces of gold from the G-9 mine. Zinc and copper production
were up from 22.1 million pounds and 1.8 million pounds,
respectively, in Q3.
- Processed 142,752 tonnes of ore with a grade of 9.3% zinc, 1.4%
copper, 182 g/t silver and 3.0 g/t gold. Production was up from
117,318 tonnes of ore in Q3.
- Averaged 1,550 tpd ore processing, up from an average of 1,275 tpd in
Q3.
- Improved metallurgical recovery of zinc to 80%, up from 79% in Q3.
- Improved metallurgical recovery of copper to 56%, up from 46% in Q3.
- Sold approximately 22,730 dry metric tonnes of zinc concentrate
averaging 49% zinc, 6,421 dry metric tonnes of copper concentrate
averaging 16% copper and 225 tonnes of lead concentrate averaging 20%
lead.
Production details for the year are given in the following table. Complete fourth quarter operational and audited financial results will be released to the market and filed on SEDAR on or about March 30, 2010. An analyst conference call is planned for March 31, 2010. Details of the call will be available closer to the date.
Q4 2009 Q3 2009 Q2 2009 Q1 2009 YTD 2009
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Production (contained
in concentrate)
Zinc (000's Pounds) 23,383 22,137 21,319 16,895 83,734
Copper (000's pounds) 2,443 1,776 1,740 1,180 7,139
Lead (000's pounds) 0 0 588 328 916
Silver (ounces) 382,120 301,202 284,352 229,539 1,197,213
Gold (ounces) 4,224 3,355 4,443 3,309 15,331
Ore Mined (tonnes) 150,984 125,978 134,970 115,978 527,910
Ore Processed
(tonnes) 142,752 117,318 114,644 106,265 480,979
tonnes per day 1,552 1,275 1,260 1,180 1,318
Zinc grade (%) 9.3 10.9 11.0 9.2 10.1
Copper grade (%) 1.4 1.6 1.3 1.1 1.3
Lead grade (%) 1.1 1.2 1.2 0.9 1.1
Silver grade (%) 182 205 165 170 181
Gold grade (%) 3.0 2.2 2.3 1.7 2.3
Recovery Q4 2009 Q3 2009 Q2 2009 Q1 2009 YTD 2009
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Zinc (%) 80 79 77 79 79
Copper (%) 56 46 55 45 51
Lead (%) 0 0 20 16 8
Silver (%) 47 39 47 40 44
Gold (%) 32 34 52 43 40
Concentrate(2)
Zinc (DMT) 21,584 20,462 18,567 14,829 75,442
Zinc (%) 49.1 49.1 52.1 51.7 50.3
Silver (g/t) 295 259 206 252 255
Gold (g/t) 2.4 1.7 2.0 2.4 2.1
Copper (DMT) 7,157 4,894 5,603 3,015 20,669
Copper (%) 15.4 16.5 14.1 17.8 15.7
Silver (g/t) 765.5 822 572 694 716
Gold (g/t) 11.0 13.3 8.7 10.4 10.8
Lead (DMT) 0 0 1,280 650 1,930
Lead (%) 20.9 22.9 21.6
Silver (g/t) 1,540 2,005 1,697
Gold (g/t) 41.4 56.5 46.5
Site Costs
(US$/t milled) $81.42 $77.29 $76.28 $70.64
Total Cash Costs
(US$/payable pound
zinc) $0.44 $0.45 $0.39 $0.44
(1) See "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" on pg. 15 of the Company's
September 30, 2009 MD&A for more information.
(2) These are provisional assays, subject to finalization. DMT means Dry
Metric Tonnes
Farallon's G-9 zinc, copper, silver, gold and lead mine at the Campo Morado Property in Mexico reached commercial production in April 2009. The Company is targeting annual production of 120 million pounds of zinc and 15 million pounds of copper per year.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
J.R.H. (Dick) Whittington
President & CEO
No regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained in this news release.
Forward Looking Information
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements." All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address future production, reserve or resource potential, continuity of mineralization, exploration drilling, operational activities, production rates, costs to completion and events or developments that the Company expects, or is targeting, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in such forward looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward looking statements and may require achievement of a number of operational, technical, economic, financial and legal objectives. The likelihood of continued future mining at Campo Morado is subject to a large number of risks, including obtaining lower than expected grades and quantities of mineralization and resources, lower than expected mill recovery rates and mining rates, changes in and the effect of government policies with respect to mineral exploration and exploitation, the possibility of local disputes including blockades of the company's property, the possibility of adverse developments in the financial markets generally, fluctuations in the prices of zinc, gold, silver, copper and lead, obtaining additional mining and construction permits, preparation of all necessary engineering for ongoing underground and processing facilities as well as receipt of additional financing to fund mine construction, development and operation, if needed. Such funding may not be available to the Company on acceptable terms or on any terms at all. There are no mineral reserves at Campo Morado and there is no assurance that the mineralization at Campo Morado will ever be classified as mineral reserves. For more information on the Company and the risk factors inherent in its business, investors should review the Company's Annual Information Form at www.sedar.com.
SOURCE Farallon Mining Ltd.
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