Taseko Mines Limited

Infobox_Company
company_name = Taseko Mines Limited

company_
company_type = Public (TGB)
company_slogan = Building wealth through developing and operating major copper mines
photo = sdsd.jpg
foundation = 1999
location = flagicon|Canada Vancouver, Canada
key_people = Mr. Russell E. Hallbauer, Teseko's CEO
industry = Copper and Gold, Niobium
num_employees = 414 (2007)
products = Copper, Gold,Niobium, and molybdenum
revenue = )
operating_income = profit $56.98 million USD (2007)
net_income = profit $56.98 million USD (2007)
homepage = [http://www.tasekomines.com/tko/Home.asp]

Taseko Mines Limited is a mid-tier copper producer located out of British Columbia, Canada. It operates Gibraltar Mine, the second largest open-pit mine in Canada, and is in the planning stages for several other mines. These include the Prosperity Mine, Harmony, and Aley. All production is sold at non-hedged market based prices. The market capitalization currently is ~650 million dollars.

News

* August 13th 2008 - Earnings Announcement
* July 1st 2008 - Jeffrey Mason as Chief Financial Officer resigns
* June 26th 2008 - Teseko purchases 100 million dollars worth of mining equipment for Gibraltar phase III
* May 13th 2008 - Phase III of expansion of Gibraltar announced. Output will rise to ~170-180 million lb of copper per year
* May 8th 2008 - Electrical transformer failure (results in mill not operating for 10 days)

Company History

*1991 - Prosperity project acquired
*July 1999 - Gibraltar acquired from Boliden
*2002 - Harmony acquired
*2004 - Gibraltar reopened due to high copper prices
*2007 - Aley acquired

Gibraltar mine

Operations: Large open pit mine with production ranging from 80-110 million lb copper per year at a cost of 1.20$ per lb mined once phase II expansion has been completed.

Reserves: 2.4 billion pounds of copper and 69 million pounds of molybdenum [ [http://www.tasekomines.com/tko/NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=206909&_Type=News-Releases&_Title=Taseko-Adds-128-Million-Tons-to-Gibraltar-Mineral-Reserves Taseko Mines Limited - News Releases - Taseko Adds 128 Million Tons to Gibraltar Mineral Reserves - Thu Aug 14, 2008 ] ]
*1.86 billion lb copper produced 1973-1998

Timeline:
*1973 - Placer Development opens mine
*1996 - Mine sold to Westmin Resources
*1998 - Mine closed
*July 1999 - Teseko purchases Gibraltar
*October 2004 - Mine reopens under Teseko
*2006 - Teseko takes over operations at Gibraltar
*May 2006 - Phase I expansion of Gibraltar announced. Concentrator capacity increases from 36,750 to 46,000 tpd at a cost of 76 million
*May 2007 - Phase II expansion of Gibraltar announced. Concentrator capacity will increase from 46,000 to 55,000 tpd at a cost of 40 million
*May 13 2008 - Phase III expansion of Gibraltar. An additional concentrator will be constructed with an additional output of 30,000 tpd. Which management believes will yield 180 million lb copper per year

Prosperity Mine

Overview - Property includes 85 square km in south central British Columbia. A large copper and gold mineralization has been defined on the property containing ~5.3 billion lb copper and 13.3 million oz of gold. The feasibility for the mine was completed on September 25, 2007 and the environmental review process began in July 2008.

Operations: Large open-pit copper and gold mine with projected production of 108 million lb per year and 247,000oz of gold per year for 20 years.

Reserves

Cost: ~800 million

Timeline

* 1991 - acquired by Teseko Mines
* Sep 25, 2007 - feasibility study completed for 70,000 tonnes per day with 20 year mine life
* July 2008 - Environmental assessment begins

Harmony Mine

Overview: The Harmony property is located on Graham Island, within the Queen Charlotte Islands, off the coast of British Columbia. The property contains a low-grade gold mineralization that can only be mined profitably at historically high gold prices. Teseko has yet to explore this property and values the property at 1$ on it's balance sheet as of September 2004. [Teseko Mines Limited Annual report p45]

Status: Exploration asset Reserves:
*latest engineering study indicated 64 million tonnes at 1.52 grams per tonne. In place resources are ~3 million oz of gold.

Cost: No projects pending

projects pending: N/A Timeline
*1970's - property discovered
*October 2001 - property acquired for 2.23 million dollars and preferred stock
*September 30th 2004 - property value written down to nominal value of 1$

Location: Aley

Overview: The Aley asset contains Niobium,a rare metal used in the production of special steel alloys that are corrosion resistant. Currently only 2 mines in the world produce the rare metal. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niobium] The spot price of this metal has risen significantly in the last 5 years, from has low as $6.70 per lb in 2004 to ~$24.00 currently [http://www.metalprices.com/FreeSite/metals/cb/cb.asp] . The property is located near the shore of the lake, about 30 kilometers from the Camp. The price of

Status: Exploration asset

Reserves: A feasibility study has not been completed thus-far. The resource estimates are 330-500 million lb with recoveries of which 65% may be recovered

Cost: N/A feasibility study not completed

Timeline

*1980's – Discovered by Cominco
*June 2007 - Teseko acquires property for 1.5 million cash + ~894,730 common shares
*2008 - Exploration of property begins

Financial Information

*Shares listed on the NYSE under the "TGB" symbol
*Teseko owns 7.318 million shares of Continental Mining, a Chinese mining company [http://www.hdgold.com/kmk/Home.asp]

References

External links

Web Site: http://www.tasekomines.com

Sources

Prosperity Costhttp://www.tasekomines.com/i/pdf/TKO_Tribune_27Feb07_WeWantProsperity.pdf

100 million equipment purchasehttp://www.tasekomines.com/tko/NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=309233&_Type=News-Releases&_Title=Taseko-Purchases-100-Million-in-Mining-and-Milling-Equipment

Phase III expansionhttp://www.tasekomines.com/tko/NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=301338&_Type=News-Releases&_Title=Taseko-Proceeds-With-Phase-III-Expansion-At-Gibraltar-Mine

2007 Annual Report detailing all properties ownedhttp://www.tasekomines.com/i/tko/TKO_AR_2007.pdf

Market Capitalization http://finance.yahoo.com/q?d=t&s=TGB

CFO resignationhttp://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/industrials/taseko-announces-change-executive-team/