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Vancouver, BC -- Taseko Mines
Limited (TSX: TKO; NYSE Amex: TGB) ("Taseko"
or the "Company") announces first quarter production, on a 100%
basis, of 19.2 million pounds of copper and 316,000 pounds of molybdenum for
its 75% owned Gibraltar Mine.
Russell Hallbauer, President and CEO of Taseko, stated, "First quarter copper production was
hampered by harsh winter conditions in January and February and by an
unscheduled four day maintenance down.
While severe winter weather also affected construction of the SAG direct
feed system, ore will be delivered to the new system at the end of this week
to begin commissioning. The new feed system will eliminate the current
secondary crusher bottleneck and increase Gibraltar's daily milling capacity
by more than 20% over that achieved in 2010, especially in winter
conditions."
Mr Hallbauer
continued, "Engineering and procurement of the Gibraltar Development
Plan 3 (GDP3) investment is well underway. All major mining and milling
equipment has been secured and delivery schedules are set. Construction
activity will commence in May, with commissioning scheduled for December of
2012.
Molybdenum recovery at Gibraltar continues to improve and is now
approaching an average of 40%, up from the 25% achieved in 2010. This is a
strong indication that the new molybdenum plant being built as a component of
GDP3 will add appreciably to total molybdenum metal production as a result of
recovery improvement as well as increased throughput.
An updated Gibraltar reserve model is scheduled to be completed by the
third week of May. It is anticipated that a significant portion of our 500
million tons of resources can be converted into the reserve category,
considerably increasing total copper and molybdenum metal production in our
long term mine plan.
Once GDP3 is complete in December 2012, Gibraltar will have production
capacity of 180 million pounds of copper and 3 million pounds of molybdenum
annually for the life of the mine."
For further information on Taseko, please see
the Company's website www.tasekomines.com or contact: Investor Relations -
778-373-4533, toll free 1-877-441-4533
Russell Hallbauer
President and CEO
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