Installation Of A Permanent SAG Mill Pre-Crusher

VANCOUVER - Jim O'Rourke, President and CEO of Copper Mountain Mining, reported although SAG Mill throughput has challenged us longer than we anticipated following the start-up period, we are confident that recently implemented modifications will provide short term improvements while the longer term solutions are implemented. We are cash flow positive and we will be continuing to improve the operation at the Copper Mountain mine as we increase the amount of minus 2 inch ore in the SAG Mill feed that will allow us to meet our production goals".

O'Rourke continued, "Looking forward, management's efforts are fully focused on optimizing the mill operations which include finalizing the work required to advance the installation of a permanent secondary crushing at the mine site.  Production scale tests completed with pre-crushed ore to the SAG Mill have confirmed that by pre-crushing 100% of the ore to minus two inches the concentrator can achieve throughput rates above the designed capacity of 35,000 tpd.  The Copper Mountain board of directors have approved the installation of a permanent SAG mill pre crusher and management is working with the Company's partner and lenders to obtain their agreements to move forward expeditiously"

Production during the quarter totaled 15.7 million pounds of copper, 5,600 ounces of gold, and 71,000 ounces of silver. Sales for the quarter were 14.7 million pounds of copper, 5,400 ounces of gold, and 66,000 ounces of silver, generating an Adjusted EBITDA of $10.6 million for the quarter.

During the quarter, the company completed three shipments of concentrate containing approximately 14.7 million pounds of copper to Japan for smelting and recorded revenues, net of smelter charges and pricing adjustments, of $45.7 million, realizing a gross loss of $1.6 million . The total cash cost of copper sold for the three months ended June 30, 2013 was US$2.32 per pound of copper after gold and silver by-product credits, up from $2.18 in the earlier quarter as a result of low production during the quarter.

Mining activities continued in the Pit #3 and Pit#2 area during the quarter.  A total of 14.7 million tones of material was mined, including 4.4 million tones of ore and 10.3 million tones of waste at an average mining rate of 171,000 tones of per day moved during the second quarter of 2013. The ore grade averaged 0.33% Copper for the second quarter. Site cash costs were $1.81 per pound of copper after gold and silver by-product credits.

Mill improvements were achieved during the quarter, in spite of the mill transformer loss time incident in mid-May that was fully repaired by early June, a full week ahead of schedule. The repaired transformer had all three sets of coils replaced and was fully inspected and certified as new prior to being returned to operation with a one year warranty. The mine exited the quarter on a positive note with the mill availability averaging 92.3% and copper production of 6.1 million pounds for the month of June. Mine production was 15.7 million pounds of copper, 5,600 ounces of gold, and 71,000 ounces of silver during the three months of operations ended June 30, 2013. This brought production for the six months to 29.9 million pounds of copper, 11,000 ounces of gold and 135,000 ounces of silver.