Reports Operating Results for the Quarter Ended September 30, 2009

Welcome To The Eastern Platinum HUB On AGORACOM

South Africa's 6th largest PGM producer.

Reply New Message

Prev Message Back To Forum Threaded View Next Message

Clavis

Rank: President [?]

Points: 26378 [?]

Votes: 242 Score: 3.6 [?]

Your Vote:

Please Log In to Vote

Did you know? You can earn activity points by filling your profile with information about yourself (what city you live in, your favorite team, blogs etc.)

Reports Operating Results for the Quarter Ended September 30, 2009

posted on Oct 07, 2009 09:48AM

October 7, 2009

Eastplats Reports Operating Results for the Quarter Ended September 30, 2009

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Oct. 7, 2009) - Mr. Ian Rozier, President and CEO of Eastern Platinum Limited (TSX:ELR)(AIM:ELR)(JSE:EPS) ("Eastplats") is pleased to report on production from the Crocodile River Mine ("CRM") for the quarter ended September 30, 2009 ("Q3 2009").

As a result of the termination of contract mining companies whose employees were involved in the illegal strike action at CRM in July, and the subsequent direct employment of mine workers and reinstatement of a limited number of contract employees, production in the third quarter was 29,874 PGM ounces, a decrease of 10% compared to the quarter ended June 30, 2009 and a decrease of 3% compared to the third quarter of 2008. Cash costs per ounce are expected to be higher compared to the June quarter as a result of the decrease in production.

Despite the challenge of introducing new crews to the mine this quarter, a milestone of two million fatality-free shifts was achieved at CRM in September.

In Q3 2009, an agreement was also reached on wages, in which employees received a 10% increase, in line with other agreements reached in the industry.

Production statistics for the current quarter and historical quarters are as follows:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Increase
                               Quarter ended                (decrease)
            ------------------------------------------- ------------------
                                                          Q3 2009  Q3 2009
Production  Sept 30, June 30,  Mar 31,  Dec 31, Sept 30,    vs       vs
 statistics    2009     2009     2009     2008     2008   Q2 2009  Q3 2008
------------------------------------------------------- ------------------
Ounces       29,874   33,383   32,969   29,015   30,755    (3,509)    (881)
 produced
------------------------------------------------------- ------------------
Run-of-mine 244,959  342,368  321,165  280,933  319,462   (97,409) (74,503)
 rock tonnes
 hoisted
------------------------------------------------------- ------------------
Run-of-mine 280,777  304,354  318,394  298,514  305,490   (23,577) (24,713)
 rock tonnes
 processed
------------------------------------------------------- ------------------
Development   2,882    4,326    4,573    4,604    5,599    (1,444)  (2,717)
 (meters)
------------------------------------------------------- ------------------
On-reef       1,562    2,860    2,745    2,922    3,556    (1,298)  (1,994)
 development
 (meters)
------------------------------------------------------- ------------------
Stoping      36,263   51,342   45,098   46,459   39,652   (15,079)  (3,389)
 units
 (square
 meters)
------------------------------------------------------- ------------------
Head grade      4.1      4.2      4.0      4.0      4.0      (0.1)     0.1
 (grams/
 tonne)
------------------------------------------------------- ------------------
Concentrator    78%      80%      80%      76%      78%       -2%       0%
 recovery
 from ROM ore
------------------------------------------------------- ------------------
Chrome       83,930   82,760   77,554   69,937   64,744     1,170   19,186
 produced
 (tonnes)
------------------------------------------------------- ------------------

During the quarter, stoping and development output was significantly reduced. By September, production levels had returned to those achieved in June 2009. Going forward, development will be maintained at Q2 levels in order to sustain the eighteen month mining reserve that has been built up at the mine over the past two years.

Concentrator recovery from the ROM circuit decreased to 78% during the quarter mainly as a result of sub-optimal operation during times of low feed from underground. This is expected to return to 80% as mining rates ramp back to pre-strike levels.

This quarter also marked the first full quarter of production from the tailings remining section which extracts PGMs and chromite from previously placed tailings.

"After a disruptive period in July and early August at CRM, we have recovered extremely well, the extensive on and off reef development carried out during the last year having positioned the mine well for both the short term production ramp up back to Q2 levels, and for the ongoing production build up at the mine," stated Ian Rozier.

Third quarter financial results and conference call

Eastplats is scheduled to release its full third quarter results on Thursday November 12, 2009 and host a telephone conference call on the same day at 11:00 a.m. Pacific (2:00 p.m. Eastern) to discuss these results. The conference call may be accessed by dialing 1-800-319-4610 in Canada and the United States, or 1-604-638-5340 internationally.

The November 12, 2009 conference call will be archived for later playback until Thursday November 19, 2009 and can be accessed by dialing 604-638-9010 or 1-800-319-6413 and using the pass code 4219 followed by the number sign.

The qualified person having reviewed the operating results presented in this press release is Mr. Brian Montpellier, V.P. Project Development, P. Eng.

Total shares issued and outstanding: 680,562,080

Reply New Message

Prev Message Back To Forum Threaded View Next Message

Please to post a reply