Weatherly International Plc Regulatory News (WTI)

Weatherly International Plc

("Weatherly" or "the Company")

Quarterly Operations and Production Update

Weatherly International Plc (AIM: WTI) is pleased to announce its quarterly update for the second quarter of the financial year ending 30 June 2014.

Highlights

· Second quarter production from Central Operations was 75,281 tonnes of ore producing 5,330 tonnes of copper concentrate, containing 1,311 tonnes of copper metal

· C1 cash costs for the quarter were US$ 6,375(US$ 2.88lb)

· Mine construction underway at Tschudi following ground breaking ceremony held in November 2013, mobilisation gaining pace and acid procurement contract being finalised

· RFC Ambrian managed a placing and subscription on behalf of the company that raised US$1.8 million

Rod Webster CEO of Weatherly commented:

"Copper concentrate produced in the month of December was 542 tonnes, our 3rd highest production month, to achieve this during the Christmas break demonstrates that we are moving in the right direction. Most importantly we now have access to the new Hoffnung Fault West area where we mined our first copper during the month."

Tschudi Project

 Members of the Weatherly board attended the ground breaking ceremony in November 2013 officially kicking off the construction phase for the Tschudi project which will see us commence copper production from the Tschudi mine in the second calendar quarter of 2015.

All the contracts with the main suppliers for the project are now in place with the exception of acid supply. We expect to finalise a direct acid supply contract with Dundee Precious Metals Tsumeb, the owners of the nearby Tsumeb smelter, based on a Heads of Agreement signed last year.

The Tschudi project has made significant progress with all the elements to commence on site work now in place. The first teams are mobilising to site in January 2014. All orders for long lead items have been issued to ensure completion as per schedule.

Central Operations

Production

Production results for the second quarter 2014 financial year are set out in the table below:

Ore treated is up compared to the previous quarter. Ore grade is up at 1.87%, an improvement of 8% on the previous quarter, the amount of copper concentrate is up by 4% compared to our previous quarter and copper contained is up by 8.4% against previous quarter.

Our unit cash cost (C1) for the quarter, US$ 6,375/t (US$ 2.88/lb), was higher than the previous quarter largely due to 'one off' costs incurred in October and November. Specifically, at Matchless there was a program of rebuilding scoops and drill rigs, while at Otjihase there was the initial establishment cost associated with commencing production from the new mining area Hoffnung Fault West (HFW). By December C1 costs had reduced to US$ 5,354/t Cu.

We continue to work towards reducing our unit costs, through better access to ore and improved equipment, and improving our ore and metal output. We anticipate additional improvements to be realised over the coming months as we continue to increase the ratio of ore from stoping as opposed to development at Matchless and move to reduce our dependency at Otjihase on pillar recovery through primary mining in the HFW area.

Commercial

During the quarter, the Company delivered 1,238 tonnes of copper contained in 5,638 tonnes of concentrate to metal trader Louis Dreyfus at a weighted average price of US$7289/t copper (US$ 3.30/lb). 

During the quarter we raised US$1.8 million by way of a placing of 35,733,336 new Ordinary Shares of 0.5p each with both new and existing institutional shareholders at a price of 3.0 pence per Placing Share. The purpose of the raising was to increase our working capital.

As at 31 December 2013, the Company had:

 (1) Reduced its working capital loan from US$3.2 million to US$2.480 million, having made loan repayments of US$0.72 million in the quarter.

(2) Forward contracts over 1400 tonnes copper to be delivered during the next seven months at an average price of US$8091/t. The Company has ceased forward selling at current prices.

Conference call

The Company will hold a conference call on Wednesday 22nd January at 11.00 am UK time. If you would like to attend please send an email to info@weatherlyplc.com and we will send you the dial in telephone number.

About Weatherly

Weatherly is an AIM listed, copper focused mining company, the principal assets of which are located in Namibia. It currently has two producing copper mines (Otjihase and Matchless), and is developing the Tschudi open cut Copper Project. These assets will enable Weatherly to achieve its medium term strategy of establishing a copper mining business capable of sustaining approximately 25,000tpa of copper production. The Company also has a 25% stake in AIM listed company, China Africa Resources Plc (CAR), which is currently focused on the development of the lead/zinc project at Berg Aukas in Northern Namibia.

For further information please contact:

Weatherly International Plc +44 (0) 20 7917 2989

Rod Webster, Chief Executive Officer

Rolf Gerritsen, Senior Executive

RFC Ambrian Limited +44 (0) 20 3440 6800

(Nominated Adviser & Broker)

Samantha Harrison

Jen Boorer

Shore Capital +44 (0) 20 7408 4090 

Jerry Keen

Toby Gibbs