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RNS Number : 5428O

Weatherly International PLC

12 October 2012

Weatherly International Plc

Quarterly Operations and Production Update

Weatherly International Plc ("Weatherly" or "the Company") is pleased to present its quarterly update for the first quarter of its 2012/13 fiscal year.

Highlights

-- Fourth quarter production was 6,499 tonnes of copper concentrate containing 1,470 tonnes of copper

   --     Central Operations produced 572 tonnes of copper in concentrate in September 

-- The Tschudi feasibility is progressing well with an expected delivery date before the end of the year

Rod Webster CEO of Weatherly commented:

"The level of production in September is very encouraging. Both grades and recoveries have been strong across the quarter and these levels of production should be improved upon again in the current quarter with unit costs reducing accordingly. This will put the company in a strong position in the lead up to the funding of the Tschudi project."

Production

Production results for the quarter are set out in the table below.

 
                        Quarter      Quarter      Quarter      Quarter 
                        to 31 Dec    to 31 Mar    to 30 Jun    to 30 Sep 
                          2011         2012         2012         2012 
 Ore Treated (t)         97,958       82,558       85,153       87,645 
 Grade (%)                1.56         1.58         1.66         1.80 
 Recovery (%)            92.83        92.98        91.52        93.31 
 Copper concentrate 
  (t)                    5,714        5,148        5,605        6,499 
 Copper contained 
  (t)                    1,421        1,214        1,292        1,470 
 

Central Operations

Quarterly production from Central Operations was 6,499 tonnes of copper concentrate containing 1,470 tonnes of copper. In the month of September the Central Operations produced 572 tonnes of copper.

Mined grades and recovery both improved on the previous quarter results.

The Matchless mine continued to perform well, maintaining targeted production levels during the period. At Otjihase, new working areas are permitting additional flexibility to the operations and this is resulting in improved production performance at the mine.

Cash costs (C1) for the month of September were US$5,282/t copper with a total for the quarter of US$5,887/t copper.

Tschudi Feasibility Study

The review of the Tschudi feasibility study is continuing and is seeing positive results from the redesign and optimisation work commenced in the previous quarter. The study remains on track and the Company is expecting to announce the results of the feasibility study by the end of the calendar year.

Commercial

During the quarter, the Company delivered 1,267 tonnes of copper contained in 5,712 tonnes of concentrate to metal trader Louis Dreyfus at a weighted average price of US$ 8,737 /t copper. The Company continues with its policy of forward selling a proportion of its production up to 18 months ahead.

As at 30 Sept 2012, the Company had:

   (1)   cash at bank of US$7.2m equivalent 

(2) reduced its working capital loan with Louis Dreyfus to US$4.8m, having made loan repayments of US$1.1m in the quarter

   (3)   forward contracts over 3,600 tonnes copper at an average price of US$8,036 /t 

The Company's next quarterly operations and production update will be issued in mid-Jan 2013.

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 progressing feasibility studies on projects which will enable Weatherly to achieve its medium term strategy of establishing a copper mining business capable of sustaining approximately 20,000tpa of copper at an average industry cost of production for at least ten years.

The Company also has a 25% stake in an AIM listed company, China Africa Resources Plc (CAF), 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

Dean Friday, Investor Relations

   Canaccord Genuity Limited                                         +44 (0) 20 7523 8350 

John Prior, Sebastian Jones

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

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