Weatherly International Plc Regulatory News (WTI)

29 Oct 2007 07:51

Weatherly International PLC29 October 2007 Weatherly's Latest Mine Kombat Commences Production on Schedule Weatherly International plc, the AIM listed integrated base metals producer withcopper mining and smelting operations in Namibia, is pleased to announce it hassuccessfully commenced production at the Kombat underground mine. Production for 2008 is targeted at approximately 300,000 tonnes of ore from theAsis West orebody, which would contribute an additional 5,000 tonnes of copperto the group. The mine was previously in production under the former owners Ongopolo until itwas flooded in the fourth quarter of 2005. Weatherly started the dewateringcampaign in the third quarter of 2006, and has made considerable progress inrehabilitating the mine and bringing it back to production. Sufficient reserveshave now been established on the upper dewatered levels for production toproceed while at the same time the lower levels continue to be dewatered. Thehigher grade resources, estimated by RSG (2006) as 340,000 tonnes at 3.4%copper, remain below the water table but are expected to be in production by thesecond quarter of 2008, when the dewatering will be complete. The underground operation at Asis West forms part of the larger Kombat MiningComplex, which has an overall milling capacity of around 400,000 tonnes perannum. With approximately 100,000 tonnes per annum spare capacity, a number ofadditional ore sources are currently under assessment, including the recentlyannounced Gross Otavi deposit. Commenting on the announcement, Rod Webster, CEO of Weatherly International said"I am delighted to announce that Kombat has commenced production as scheduled.With five mines now operational we have largely completed the task we setourselves some 15 months ago, and are well on the way to achieving our 2008annualised target of 20,000 tonnes of copper." For further information contact: Weatherly International John Norris, Company Secretary +44 (0) 207 868 2232Paul Craven, Chief Financial Officer Libertas Capital Jakob Kinde, Stephen Pickup +44 (0) 207 569 9650 BuckBias Alex 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