Taseko partners with Ledcor at Gibraltar

Vancouver — Ledcor CMI, a British Columbia-based contractor, has agreed to resuscitate the Gibraltar open-pit copper mine and take over operatorship from Taseko Mines (TKO-V). The mine is near Williams Lake in south-central British Columbia.

Under the deal, Taseko will retain full ownership of the mine.

Ledcor has agreed to recommission the operation for production by October. The terms of the agreement will be hammered out in the next 4-6 weeks, and will include labour contract negotiations with previous workers.

Meanwhile, a major international metals buyer, Glencore of Switzerland, has signed a long-term sales contract to purchase all the copper produced at Gibraltar for more than three years.

Gibraltar operated from 1972 to 1993 and from 1994 until late 1998, when low copper prices forced a shutdown. Average annual production during that entire period was 80 million lbs. copper and 700,000 lbs. molybdenum. There is also a sulphide resource of 745 million tonnes averaging 0.3% copper (4.7 billion lbs. copper), based on a cutoff grade of 0.2% copper. This includes a measured and indicated resource of 149 million tonnes grading 0.31% copper and 0.01% moly outlined in the 12-year mine plan.

Taseko acquired Gibraltar in 1999. The company also holds the Prosperity copper-gold porphyry project in south-central British Columbia and the Harmony gold property on the Queen Charlotte Islands.

The company has 84.2 million shares outstanding.