For the three month period ending June 30, Taseko Mines Ltd. reported it had gross profit before depreciation of $12.9 million and cash flow from operations of $27.7 million.
“This compares to gross profit before depreciation of $13.2 million and cash flow from operations of ($7.5) million for the three months ended March 31, 2013,” the company noted in a press release.
Taseko recorded a net loss of $14.7 million for the three months ended June 30, primarily attributable to a write-down of marketable securities and an unrealized foreign exchange loss.
“The $28 million of cash flow from operations is the best indicator of Gibraltar’s performance in the second quarter,” said Taseko’ CEO and president Russell Hallbauer.
“With major capital spending behind us, we are now generating robust cash flow at current copper prices, which will allow us to build on our already strong cash balance of $93 million.”
“The first operating quarter of our new, fully integrated facility has gone exceptionally well. In our view, the 35 per cent increase in tons milled and 21 per cent increase in copper production, quarter-over-quarter, is a great start to the ramp up. Improvements have continued into the third quarter, specifically to concentrator availability and reliability. This resulted in average daily throughput of approximately 74,000 tons per calendar day being achieved in July and over the last half of July, the concentrators averaged in excess of 83,000 tons per calendar day. Copper production in July was 12.2 million pounds, mainly due to the higher throughput.”
Referring to the public hearings for the New Prosperity Project that began in Williams Lake on July 22, Hallbauer said the company remains confident that the EIS, as submitted by Taseko, will hold up to both public scrutiny and technical reviews.
“It has been apparent over the first number of days of the hearings that there remains overwhelming support for the project from the local communities.”