Rambler Announces Copper Production Results for Second Half and Full Year 2020
London, England – Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada – Rambler Metals and Mining plc (AIM: RMM) (“Rambler” or the “Company”), a copper and gold producer, explorer, and developer, announces production results for the half year and full year ended December 31, 2020. Rambler produced 1,661 and 3,769 tonnes of saleable copper for the half year and full year, respectively. Throughput for the half year and full year were 115,195 and 263,230 tonnes of ore, respectively.
COVID-19 UPDATE
Rambler has robust measures in place to identify and manage any occurrence of Covid-19, and has successfully kept the Ming Mine and Nugget Pond processing facilities operational during the pandemic. To date there have been no cases of Covid-19 amongst the Company’s employees or contractors ( totalling about 200 individuals). Newfoundland and Labrador (the “Province”) continues to have a low incidence of the virus. At the time of writing, there are 3 known cases of Covid-19 in the Province. The Company continues to review and update its policies and protocols in line with, and over and above, national and provincial health authority guidelines.
H2 2020 PRODUCTION SUMMARY
· In response to the collapse of the copper price in March 2020, Rambler scaled back operations and cut production from March 2020 to 50% of capacity to meet its forward sales commitment. Accordingly, for the half year and full year, the operation produced 6,401 and 14,550 tonnes of concentrate containing saleable metal of 1,661 and 3,769 tonnes of copper, respectively.
· For the fiscal half year and full year ended December 31, 2020, the Nugget Pond copper and gold milling facility achieved throughput of 115,195 and 263,230 dmt at feed grades of 1.57% and 1.55% copper respectively.
· Recoveries of copper metal to concentrate were 95.1% and 95.6% for the half year and full year respectively.
· Assays of gold grades and consequent gold and silver recoveries and saleable gold and silver have been delayed since the second quarter of 2020. Results will be released upon receipt of assays, which are currently expected by the end of March 2021. Based on the settlement invoices from the three shipments completed in 2020, Rambler shipped 2,949 ounces of accountable gold and 17,373 ounces of accountable silver.
Toby Bradbury, President and CEO, commented:
“2020 was a challenging year for the Company exacerbated by the impacts of the global Covid-19 pandemic and the follow-on effect that had on commodities prices. Improvement in market conditions from the third quarter enabled Rambler to close a financing on 8 December 2020 which has strengthened the Company’s balance sheet and provided a platform from which to deliver the true potential of the Ming Mine. The closing cash position as at 31 December 2020 was US$6.2million.
Our focus now is to re-establish sustainable production of higher-grade ore to fully utilise the existing mill capacity while embarking on further exploration and project evaluation of expansion opportunities.”
2021 PRODUCTION OUTLOOK
2021 will be a year of accelerating mine development and increasing rates of higher-grade production to meet full mill capacity of 1,350 tonnes/day by year end. This level of production throughput was previously achieved in Q3 2019.
During the first quarter of 2021, our focus will be on the following priorities:
· Pumping of water from the lower sections of the mine that were not maintained through the reduced production period of 2020. The dewatering requires an upgraded mine pumping system which continues to be progressively deployed after our financing was completed in December 2020. Completion of the pumping and associated rehabilitation is expected to occur by the end of February 2021 with increasing access being achieved to develop the high-grade resources present in these areas;
· Undertaking remedial work and catch-up maintenance required to bring the mining production and development fleet and process plant back into proper condition.
· A concerted drive on mine development, using contractors where necessary, to establish sufficient reserve availability to sustain mine production at progressively higher output. The objective for the final quarter of 2021 is to fully utilise the 1,350 tpd mill capacity to process around 115,000 tonnes of run-of-mine (“ROM”) ore at 2% Cu grade.
· Recruitment for key positions in the operation to build on the success thus far, with personnel engaged for Resident Engineer, Project Director, Mine Superintendent, Mine Development General Foreman, Operator Trainer and Underground Operators.
· Ore sorting studies to advance the previous work done on the Ming Mine orebodies to a plant design that can be established to commence ROM ore sorting at the mine site in 2022 to capture the cost and revenue benefit of an upgraded ROM feed.
· Completion of the purchase of the 2,200 tonnes/day Duck Pond plant and planning for its dismantling and relocation to the Ming Mine site, beginning in Q3 2021. This asset is a cornerstone of the Company’s strategy to further expand operations and reduce operating costs;
· Infill diamond drilling is set to re-commence in the Ming Mine with mobilisation at the end of January. This drilling will provide essential detail for improved development, stope design and grade control for operations and will also provide an opportunity for resource upgrades in certain areas.
· Completion of the asset sale to Maritime Resources Corp. (“Maritime”) for US$2million cash plus shares with a value of C$0.5 million in Maritime, as announced on 23 December 2020, comprising the disposal of non-core mineral rights and redundant equipment.
· While exploration drilling was anticipated in the financing to re-commence by mid year, an acceleration of this program is being assessed subject to funds availability.
Toby Bradbury, President and CEO, commented:
“2021 is a year of re-birth for the Company. There is a period of rebuilding and redevelopment to give confidence in the future delivery. Over the last three months, we have successfully engaged core competencies needed to operate an efficient mining business and we now have the capacity to move forward.
Under our new CFO, Eason Chen, we will be implementing a new financial and management information system to provide the level of detail and analysis to optimally manage a modern mining operation. This should result in significant upside because it allows management to make more informed and timely decisions and improve our operation accordingly. To protect the Company’s financial performance from the volatility of copper price, and as a requirement of the West Face loan note financing, 3,600 tonnes of copper production for 2021 (approximately 50% of 2021 production) has been sold forward at US$3.494/lb. The copper market continues to be strong which further supports the operating margins of the business.
Aside from creating a safe, sustainable and cash-generative business, much of the excitement for Rambler rests in the considerable potential upside of the Ming Mine resource, particularly through further exploration and expansion opportunities of a high-grade copper asset with a valuable gold bi-product. These aspects will be progressively evaluated through the course of 2021 and beyond and are expected to yield value upside for all stakeholders in the medium to long term.”
Full update Link https://www.share-talk.co.uk/announcements/rns/rambler-metals-mining-plc/copper-production-results-for-h2-and-fy2020/202101260700038385M
