LONDON (Alliance News) - Rambler Metals and Mining PLC Thursday said copper, gold and silver production from the Ming mine all fell quarter on quarter and year on year, as the company continues to implement its revised mine plan, which it said is hitting targets.
The Canadian-based miner said it is targeting to meet the bottom end of its revised production forecasts after production was hampered by bad weather in the quarter. Production has fallen in every quarter of 2015, partly caused by declining grades across all of its commodities and lower ore production.
The third quarter of the fiscal year was the first full quarter that the company's revised mine plan has been in effect. Back in January, the company said it had implemented a revised plan for the Ming mine in order to cut costs and said it has faced further issues in the dilution of ore production stopes at the site and grade issues.
The fall in the copper price also caused Rambler to re-evaluate and conduct a complete review of its financial plans for 2015. It cut jobs and suspended all non-critical spending.
Rambler then hired consultants to evaluate the mining potential of the lower footwall zone at the Ming mine to try to increase production at a low capital cost to extend the mine life to ten years. This is still ongoing and is due to be completed by June.
Copper concentrate production totalled 3,989 tonnes in the third quarter ended April 30, which is down from 4,648 tonnes in the previous quarter and down from 5,072 tonnes in the first quarter. It is also down year on year from the 6,238 tonnes produced in the third quarter of the last financial year.
Rambler provided production guidance for the full year of 20,000 to 24,000 tonnes of copper concentrate.
"The third quarter of the company's fiscal year marks the end of a difficult winter season with above-average snow fall and cold conditions. These conditions did impact production through the copper concentrator during February and March," said the company.
"However, late in the quarter we were able to push mill throughput and gained a better understanding of the crusher's capabilities and feed through the coarse ore bin. The optimization of these units are an important component for the company's plans to double mill production over the next three years," it added.
Rambler said the mill at the site is currently "meeting the monthly production targets", adding that it is running at a rate of 712 million tonnes of ore per day in May.
Copper production totalled 1,043 tonnes in the third quarter, down from 1,284 tonnes in the previous quarter and from 1,447 tonnes in the first quarter. It is also down from 1,829 tonnes in the same period a year earlier.
For the full year, copper production is forecast to be between 5,400 to 6,700 tonnes of copper.
Gold production reached 1,106 ounces, down from 1,269 ounces in the second quarter and from 1,464 ounces in the first. Compared to a year earlier, it was down from 1,608 ounces.
Gold production in 2015 is expected to total between 5,600 to 6,600 ounces of gold.
Silver production followed the trend, falling to 8,305 ounces in the third quarter from 9,878 ounces in the second quarter and from 10,781 ounces in the first. A year earlier it produced 13,196 ounces of silver.
Silver production guidance for the full year is between 39,000 to 46,000 ounces of silver.
Production has fallen due to the revised mine plan and lower grades. Copper and silver grades fell quarter on quarter with gold grades experiencing a tiny lift, but all three reported lower grades on a year on year basis of around 32%.
"This has been the first full quarter since the revised mine plan was implemented in January. The company continues to review the mine plan for ways to improve production throughput and grade for the remainder of the fiscal year," said President Norman Williams.
Rambler shares were up 1.2% to 12.40 pence per share on Thursday morning.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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