JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Building on its successes from 2016 and using the first half of 2017 to capitalise on rising copper prices, TSX- and NYSE-listed Taseko Mines has, over the past nine months, generated $192-million of cash flow from operations as well as $147-million in earnings from its mining operations, before depletion and amortisation.

"With the copper price recently increasing to two-year highs, combined with nearly $100-million of cash on hand, plus our long-term debt reduced and termed out five years, we are in a very good position to continue investing in and advancing our pipeline of projects," said Taseko president and CEO Russell Hallbauer in a note to shareholders published Wednesday,

Hallbauer added that, over the past nine months, site spending has been consistent and, in the second quarter of this year, site operating costs, net of by-products, were $0.97/lb with C1 costs of $1.31/lb.

Meanwhile, the company reported cash flow from operations of $62.3-million in the second quarter, with earnings from mining operations before depletion and amortisation amounting to $46.5-million and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, or Ebitda, of $42.8-million in the same period.

Taseko also completed a $250-million debt offering during the second quarter. “We used the proceeds from this offering, along with a portion of our cash balance, to repay approximately $275-million of debt, which was due in 2019. We felt it was important to take advantage of a healthy bond market to reduce our overall debt and extend the due date to 2022," noted Hallbauer.

Meanwhile, over the past four weeks, uncontrolled wildfires resulted in evacuation orders for a number of communities in the Cariboo, where most of Taseko’s Gibraltar employees reside.

“These evacuation orders have affected the complement of personnel who operate Gibraltar, and access to and from the mine was also significantly curtailed during this period. This has resulted in reduced production for periods of time as well as a complete mine shutdown for several days during July,” said Hallbauer.

He added that mining and milling operations were beginning to return to normal, as some evacuation orders had been lifted over the past week.

“Third-quarter copper sales volumes are expected to be up to 10% lower than the second quarter of 2017. The situation continues to evolve and we are hopeful that the worst is behind us," concluded the CEO.
 
Taseko’s adjusted net income for the quarter under review was $14.3-million, or $0.06 a share. Net income was $5.2-million, or $0.02 a share.

The company’s site operating costs, net of by-product credits were $0.97/lb produced, down 44% from the second quarter of 2016.

Total sales for the second quarter were 40.7-million pounds of copper and 0.8-million pounds of molybdenum.

The company's cash balance at June 30 was $97-million, which was after $72-million was used for debt refinancing.