VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - July 13, 2009) - Quadra Mining Ltd. ("Quadra" or "the Company") (TSX:QUA) announces the production results for the second quarter of 2009 from its two 100% owned operating assets, the Robinson Mine ("Robinson") located in Ely, Nevada and the Carlota Mine ("Carlota") located in Globe-Miami, Arizona. Combined production was below expectation with 29.7 million pounds of copper and 18,031 ounces of gold produced for the three months ended June 30, 2009. As a result, 2009 production guidance for both Robinson and Carlota has been revised as per the discussion provided below.
Robinson
Robinson produced 22.9 million pounds of copper and 18,031 ounces of gold during the second quarter of 2009. Quarterly production results were lower than expected because of the inability to access hypogene ore in the Veteran pit which was required to blend with the supergene ore from the Wedge pit - a strategy that has historically improved metallurgical performance. Access to the hypogene ore was limited throughout the quarter, due to concerns with the stability of the north pit wall in Veteran by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the Federal enforcement agency responsible for safety and health in US mines. The operations team has subsequently agreed upon a plan with MSHA to resolve these issues, taking measures that include some changes to the pit design and increasing monitoring and fence protection. While mining of the hypogene ore in Veteran will resume in the third quarter allowing continuation of the blending strategy, production guidance for copper has been reduced slightly with the mine now expected to produce approximately 130 million pounds of copper. Gold production guidance of 100,000 ounces remains unchanged for the year.
Copper sales from Robinson for the second quarter were 24.2 million pounds as a result of the lower concentrate production and the timing of shipments. The increasing copper price during the quarter will result in positive provisional pricing and mark to market adjustments to prior quarter sales.
Key operating and sales metrics are shown below:
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Robinson Operation Q3 2008 Q4 2008 Q1 2009 Q2 2009 LTM(i)
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Operating Metrics:
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Copper production
(Million lbs) 38.6 34.5 36.7 22.9 132.7
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Gold production (ozs) 30,629 26,913 34,649 18,031 110,222
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Waste mined
(Tonnes 000's) 14,263 13,527 8,379 11,606 47,775
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Ore milled
(Tonnes 000's) 3,489 3,358 3,407 3,165 13,505
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Copper grade (%) 0.64 0.69 0.65 0.58 0.64
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Gold grade (g/t) 0.42 0.48 0.42 0.25 0.39
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Copper recovery (%) 78.7 68.1 75.4 56.3 69.5
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Gold recovery (%) 65.8 52.2 75.4 70.4 64.4
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Sales Metrics:
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Copper sales
(Million lbs) 40.4 29.2 34.5 24.2 128.3
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Copper price at
end of period
($US/lb) (2) $ 2.91 $ 1.33 $ 1.83 $ 2.32 $ 2.32
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Provisionally priced
copper(1) -
beginning of
period (Million lbs) 51.8 51.0 43.2 27.7 51.8
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Average settlement
price for prior
period sales
subject to final
pricing during
period ($US/lb) $ 3.44 $ 1.83 $ 1.56 $ 2.14 $ 3.14
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Gold sales (ozs) 35,151 22,844 30,258 23,152 111,405
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Average gold price
during period
($US/oz) (3) $ 869 $ 796 $ 908 $ 922 $ 874
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(i) Last twelve months
Notes:
(1) Copper that has been sold but has not been subject to final pricing.
Under current sales contracts, final pricing for copper sales is
generally set at least four months after the time of shipment
(2) The average price used to value provisionally priced copper
(3) Average daily price of the London am/pm fix
Carlota
Carlota produced 6.8 million pounds of copper during the second quarter. Production was below mine plan estimates in part because of lower than scheduled ore mined and in part because of lower than planned leaching rates.
