Weatherly International updates on Tschudi production as H1 loss steady

Weatherly International said output was 8137 tonnes of copper cathode from the Tschudi mine in Namibia in the half-year to end-December 2016, with production C1 costs at $4603 a tonne.

"We are pleased to report significantly improved operational results as the groundwater inflows at Tschudi are being well managed," the company said in a statement, as it posted a stable first-half pre-tax loss.

The operational team was focused on achieving the original production target of full nameplate production for the year despite the setbacks encountered in the June and September quarters.

Weatherly added that the annual production target was still 17,000 tonnes, withstanding reduced production in the September 2016 quarter.

The company stated it had continued to probe opportunities to resume production, at sustainable unit costs, at Otjihase and Matchless.

"At Otjihase and Matchless, safe and productive underground mining skills developments are critical to unlocking the opportunity to resume production at sustainable unit costs in future," the company said, as it posted another first-half pre-tax loss.

Weatherly said it had identified a low-risk and potentially incrementally cash-generative opportunity to commence with its skills development programme at Otjihase.

It intended investigating the potential for such skills development to support a strategic goal of achieving 10-12ktpa of contained copper in concentrate from the underground mines at C1 costs below $4400 a tonne.

"The Company plans to study the opportunity further before taking any decisions to proceed."

Weatherly posted a first-half pre-tax loss of $11.3m, from a year-earlier loss of $11.4m. This was on revenue of $37.8m, from $15.9m.

At 14:04 GMT, shares in AIM-listed Weatherly were down 15.62% to 0.68p each.