Sherwood Copper Corporation (TSX VENTURE:SWC)(TSX VENTURE:SWC.DB) today
announced that the commissioning of its Phase 2 mill expansion at the high grade
Minto copper-gold mine in the Yukon is complete and the mill has essentially
achieved, and several times exceeded, its design capacity of 2,400 tonnes per
day. During the past four weeks, to April 12, the mill processed an average of
2,336 tonnes per day at an average feed grade of 4.5% copper and 20g/t silver,
achieved design copper recoveries of 93.5% and produced above design concentrate
grades averaging 42.8% copper. Individual day highs during this period include
mill throughput of 2,642 tonnes per day, recoveries of 97% copper and
concentrate grades of 47% copper, showing that there is still room to fully
optimize plant performance by achieving a higher level of performance on a
sustained basis. Since gold is assayed off site, gold information is not
available until sometime later.
"Once again, our operations team at the high grade Minto copper-gold mine have
delivered a significant success by completing the commissioning of the Phase 2
mill expansion less than three months after construction was complete," said
Stephen Quin, President & CEO. "Despite an initially slow start to the quarter,
as the new equipment was commissioned and bedded down combined with temporary
crusher availability issues in February and early March, the Minto Mine has
clearly demonstrated its ability to not only sustain, but to also exceed design
capacity," he added. "During the next few months, we aim to continue to optimize
operational performance of the Minto Mine while, in parallel, looking to the
implementation of the Phase 3 mill expansion."
In addition, on March 31, 2008, Sherwood's wholly owned subsidiary, Minto
Explorations Ltd., made its first principal repayment of $4.925 million under
its project loan facility. "Making our first principal repayment under our
project loan facility is another significant milestone in Sherwood's rapid
acquisition, financing, development and expansion of operations at the Minto
Mine," said Mr. Quin. "Having achieved design performance and, given the
exceptional grade and current very high metal price, Sherwood is looking forward
to a very robust performance in 2008 and beyond."
Minto Mine Q1 Performance
As noted in the February 25, 2008 announcement, the first quarter production in
2008 was forecast to be lower than the average for the year as a result of
commissioning activities, scheduling of lower grade feed and unusually cold
weather. During the first three months of 2008, Sherwood completed the
commissioning of the Phase 2 mill expansion, which included the addition of a
second ball mill and additional flotation capacity to increase processing
capacity from 1,563 tonnes per day to 2,400 tonnes per day. Throughput during
the quarter was affected by commissioning activities as the new equipment was
bedded down, but was also impacted (as reported February 25, 2008) by an
extended period of unusually cold weather that affected crusher availability,
reducing mill throughput. The crusher will be modified before next winter to
avoid these issues in the future. However, the mill has been running at design
performance for the past four weeks as detailed above. Details of the Minto
Mine's quarterly performance are tabulated below.
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(ii)Q1 & Q2/07 (ii)Q3/07 Q4/07 Q1/08
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Production
(contained in concentrates)
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- Copper (000's lbs) 473,994 3,836,043 5,350,619 11,322,942
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- Gold (oz)(i) N/A N/A N/A N/A
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- Silver (oz) 2,018 17,938 25,929 63,440
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Mining
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- Waste (tonnes) 4,846,319 2,127,252 2,291,004 1,372,953
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- Ore (tonnes) 24,793 600,261 121,273 321,431
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- Total material mined (tonnes) 4,871,112 2,727,513 2,412,277 1,694,384
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- Copper grade (%) 1.09 1.72 2.17 3.57
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- Gold grade (g/t)(iii) 0.15 0.45 0.61 1.46
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- Silver grade (g/t) 4.34 6.20 8.10 14.6
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Milling
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- Tonnes processed 20,253 117,382 100,811 152,368
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- Copper grade (%) 1.64 1.90 2.57 3.61
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- Gold grade (g/t)(i) N/A N/A N/A 1.73
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- Silver grade (g/t) 5.06 6.93 9.13 14.80
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Recoveries
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- Copper (%) 64.8 78.1 93.7 94.5
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- Gold (%) N/A N/A N/A 79.7
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- Silver (%) 61.3 68.6 87.7 88.5
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Concentrate
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- Dry tonnes produced 580 4,965 7,086 13,243
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- Copper grade (%) 37.1 35.1 34.3 38.8
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- Gold grade (g/t)(i) N/A 9.8 11.4 N/A
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- Silver grade (g/t) 108.3 112.4 113.8 149.0
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(i) Gold is not assayed on site, resulting in a significant lag in
receiving this data.
(ii) Includes capitalized pre-stripping treated as pre-production costs in
the DFS.
(iii) Gold grades for ore mined are estimated from the reserve block model,
whereas copper and silver grades are based on blast hole assays.
Note that the 2007 production statistics, previously reported on February 25,
2008, have been adjusted as a result of year-end reconciliations completed
subsequent to that announcement.
Concentrate Shipments
In early March, Sherwood loaded approximately 9,158 dry metric tonnes of
concentrate grading approximately 36% copper on the vessel MV Beluga Enterprise
and, in early April, an additional 9,849 tonnes of concentrate grading
approximately 39% copper on the vessel MV Sanka Enternal for sale to Japanese
smelters. Of these quantities delivered, approximately 79% will be delivered
into Sherwood's copper forward sales contracts, while the balance has been or
will be sold at spot between the loading date and final settlement date. In
addition, these concentrates contain significant gold and silver credits.
2008 Outlook
Given that the mill has demonstrated capacity in excess of design, for the
balance of the year Sherwood aims to average mill throughput in excess of 2,400
tonnes per day in order to achieve its production forecast of approximately 55
million pounds of payable copper and 24,000 oz of payable gold in 2008. This
forecast was made without assuming any benefits from on-going optimizations,
such as rescheduling the pit sequencing in order to bring production forward,
coarsening the grind and implementing the Phase 3 mill expansion, details of
which were outlined in the February 25, 2008 announcement.
About Sherwood Copper
Sherwood Copper's current focus is profitable production of base and precious
metals from high grade, open pit mines in Canada. Sherwood's first operating
mine, the high grade Minto copper-gold mine in Yukon, Canada, was built on
budget and ahead of schedule. The Minto Mine is one of the highest-grade open
pit copper-gold mines in the world, and is forecast to be a low cost producer.
Aggressive exploration on the Minto property has yielded significant success,
providing Sherwood the opportunity to 'grow from within' by expanding the
resource and reserve base, potentially leading to further production increases.
To further accelerate its production growth, Sherwood intends to pursue merger &
acquisition opportunities that fit its business model and, in March 2008,
Sherwood acquired more than 93% ownership in Western Keltic Mines, owner of the
high-grade Kutcho copper-zinc-gold-silver deposit in northwestern British
Columbia. Sherwood aims to repeat its successful development of the Minto Mine
at the Kutcho project.
Quality Assurance
The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance
with Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and
reviewed by Stephen P. Quin, P. Geo., President & CEO for Sherwood Copper
Corporation. The operational information relating to the Minto Mine in this
release have been carried out under the supervision of Randall Thompson, General
Manager of the Minto Mine, and Kevin Weston P.Eng., Chief Operating Officer for
Sherwood Copper.
Additional Information
Additional information on Sherwood and its Minto Project can be obtained on
Sherwood's website at http://www.sherwoodcopper.com.
On behalf of the board of directors
SHERWOOD COPPER CORPORATION
Stephen P. Quin, President & CEO
This document may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of
Canadian securities legislation and the United States Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are made as of
the date of this document and the Company does not intend, and does not assume
any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and
reflect management's expectations or beliefs regarding future events and
include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the estimation of
mineral reserves and resources, the realization of mineral reserve estimates,
the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production,
capital expenditures, success of mining operations, environmental risks,
unanticipated reclamation expenses, title disputes or claims and limitations on
insurance coverage. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be
identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect",
"is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends",
"anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such
words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may",
"could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the
negative of these terms or comparable terminology. By their very nature
forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of
the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such
factors include, among others, risks related to actual results of current
exploration activities; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be
refined; future prices of resources; possible variations in ore reserves, grade
or recovery rates; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining
industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing or in the
completion of development or construction activities; as well as those factors
detailed from time to time in the Company's interim and annual financial
statements and management's discussion and analysis of those statements, all of
which are filed and available for review on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the
Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual
actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in
forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions,
events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be
no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as
actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated
in such statements.
Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
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