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Message: Announces First Quarter 2009 Production Results

Announces First Quarter 2009 Production Results

posted on Apr 21, 2009 05:50AM
April 21, 2009
Quadra Announces First Quarter 2009 Production Results
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - April 21, 2009) - Quadra Mining Ltd. ("Quadra" or "the Company") (TSX:QUA) is pleased to announce production results for the first quarter of 2009 from its two 100% owned operating assets, the Robinson Mine ("Robinson") located in Ely, Nevada and the Carlota Mine ("Carlota") located in Globe-Miami, Arizona. Production was in line with expectations from both operations with a combined total of 43.3 million pounds of copper and 34,649 ounces of gold for the three months ended March 31, 2009.

Robinson

Robinson produced 36.7 million pounds of copper and 34,649 ounces of gold during the first quarter. Higher than expected copper head grades were encountered during the quarter and although the gold grade was slightly lower than expected, this was more than offset by substantially higher gold recovery. Ore blending and flotation practices continued to deliver improved metallurgical performance.

Mining continued in the Veteran pit, which will continue to provide most of the ore until late 2010, but also commenced in the Kimbely /Wedge area of the Ruth pit as per the 2009 mine plan. Initiation of mining in this new pit area required moving some of the major loading equipment which resulted in lower pit productivity.

Copper sales from Robinson for the first quarter were 34.5 million pounds. The increasing copper price during the quarter will result in positive provisional pricing and mark to market adjustments to prior quarter sales.

Key operating and sales metrics are shown below.

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Robinson Mine             Q2 2008   Q3 2008   Q4 2008   Q1 2009       LTM(i)

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Operating Metrics:
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Copper production
 (Million lbs)               44.6      38.6      34.5      36.7     154.4
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Gold production (ozs)      42,348    30,629    26,913    34,649   134,539
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Waste mined
 (Tonnes 000's)            14,462    14,263    13,527     8,379    50,631
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Ore milled (Tonnes 000's)   3,453     3,489     3,358     3,407    13,794
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Copper grade (%)             0.72      0.64      0.69      0.65      0.67
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Gold grade (g/t)             0.51      0.42      0.48      0.42      0.46
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Copper recovery (%)          81.8      78.7      68.1      75.4      75.2
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Gold recovery (%)            75.2      65.8      52.2      75.4      66.7
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Sales Metrics:
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Copper sales
 (Million lbs)               38.7      40.4      29.2      34.5     142.8
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Copper price at end of
 period ($US/lb) (2)        $3.91     $2.91     $1.33     $1.83     $1.83
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Provisionally priced
 copper (1) - beginning of
 period (Million lbs)        44.4      51.8      51.0      43.2      44.4
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Average settlement price
 for prior period sales
 subject to final pricing
 during period ($US/lb)     $3.81     $3.44     $1.83     $1.56      $3.78
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Gold sales (ozs)           35,403    35,151    22,844    30,258    123,656
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Average gold price during
 period ($US/oz) (3)         $896      $869      $796      $908       $867
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(i)Last twelve months

Notes:

(1) Copper that has been sold but has not been subject to final pricing.
    Under current sales contracts, final pricing for copper sales is
    generally set at least four months after the time of shipment
(2) The average price used to value provisionally priced copper
(3) Average daily price of the London am/pm fix
Carlota

Carlota produced 6.6 million pounds of copper during the first quarter and production was in line with mine plan estimates. Ore placement is on schedule with some 1.7 million tonnes of ore placed on the leach pad during the first quarter. Ore is exhibiting leaching characteristics and acid consumption as predicted in the Technical Report. The plant facilities are continuing to ramp up and fine tuning of the plant continues to optimize operations and further build up copper production. The first sale of cathode copper was completed during the first quarter.

Key operating and sales metrics are shown below.

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Carlota Mine                                          Q1 2009
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Operating Metrics:
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Copper production (Million lbs)                           6.6
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Waste mined (Tonnes 000's)                              4,518
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Ore placed (Tonnes 000's)                               1,732
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Copper grade (%)                                         0.25
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Sales Metrics:
--------------
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Copper cathode sales (Million lbs)                        5.9
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Average realized price for the period                   $1.49
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Paul Blythe, President & CEO of Quadra said, "Both of our operations are delivering at or better than plan and we are very much on track to meet guidance. Progress at Carlota is meeting expectations with the operation ramping up and driving hard towards completing the creek diversion, the key objective for 2009. With the Centenario transaction now finalized and with the Franke Mine advancing towards start-up of production, Quadra will soon have an asset portfolio of three operating mines and two significant development projects."

The first quarter financial results will be announced on May 12th 2009. Dial in details of the accompanying conference call will be issued under separate release. Quadra's Annual General Meeting will be held on May 14th, 2009 at 2.00pm at the Fairmont Hotel in Vancouver.

About Quadra Mining Ltd. (TSX:QUA)

Quadra is a British Columbia corporation based in Vancouver and is a mining company whose principal assets are the Robinson Mine in Nevada, producing copper and gold, the Carlota Mine in Arizona, the Sierra Gorda advanced exploration copper-molybdenum project in Chile and the Malmbjerg molybdenum development project in Greenland. Quadra recently acquired all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Centenario Copper Corporation, whose principal asset is the Franke SX/EW, heap leach project in northern Chile. The Company has the goal of becoming a mid-tier base metals development and operating company with interests in a number of advanced exploration, development and producing properties.
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