Weatherly International Plc Regulatory News (WTI)

2 Oct 2007 15:03

Weatherly International PLC02 October 2007 Weatherly International PLC ("Weatherly" or the "Company") Tschudi Mine Commences Production Weatherly International plc, the AIM listed integrated base metals producer withcopper mining and smelting operations in Namibia, is pleased to announcecommencement of full production at the Tschudi underground mine on schedule andwithin budget. Production is targeted at 300,000 tonnes of ore on an annualised basis for 2008,which would contribute at least an additional 2,500 tonnes of copper to thegroup. The Tschudi mine is located 24 kilometres west of the Tsumeb West undergroundmine and forms part of the Tsumeb operation. Around $3 million was invested inbringing the group's first entirely new mine on line. Modern long hole stopingmining methods will be used, with the ore being processed at the Tsumebconcentrator and then smelted at the nearby Tsumeb smelter. The underground mine is exploiting just a small part of the large Tschudiorebody, with current defined underground reserves of 1 million tonnes at 1.5%copper and 15 grams per tonne silver. The whole Tschudi resource base is 43million tonnes, grading at 0.8% copper and 10 grams per tonne silver. Weatherlyis examining the possibility of exploiting the deposit through a large open pit,with a drilling campaign currently underway and anticipate completing a BankableFeasibility Study during the third quarter of 2008. Commenting on the announcement, Rod Webster, CEO of Weatherly International said"This is an important milestone for Weatherly. The commencement of production onschedule and within budget demonstrates Weatherly's ability to successfullydeliver new projects. We are also excited about the potential to develop Tschudiinto a much larger mine with the addition of an open pit. We anticipatecompleting the open pit feasibility study during the third quarter of 2008. Our next underground mine Kombat West is progressing well and is on track tocommence production in November 2007. I believe we are well positioned to meetour stated target rate of 20,000 tonnes of copper (annualised) as forecast." For further information contact: Weatherly International PLCJohn Norris, Company Secretary +44 (0) 207 868 2232Paul Craven, Chief Financial Officer Libertas CapitalJakob Kinde, Stephen Pickup +44 (0) 207 569 9650 BuckbiasAlex Buck +44 (0) 207 244 8053 +44 (0) 7932 740 452 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange