Lundin Press Release 400mil lbs. Zinc!
Lundin Mining and EuroZinc Mining said Wednesday in a joint statement that the merger between the two companies was finalized. The merged company, Lundin Mining Corporation, is now listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Stockholm Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange as of November 1, 2006.
On August 21 2006, Lundin Mining and EuroZinc announced the merger plans. "The new company, with a total of 1 500 employees, will operate four profitable mines in Sweden, Portugal and Ireland and in 2007, a fifth mine is planned to start production in Portugal. Production for 2006, on a combined basis, is estimated to be approximately 180,000 mt (400 million lb) of contained zinc, 90,000 mt (205 million lb) of contained copper, 45,000 mt (100 million lb) of contained lead and 6 million oz of contained silver," it said Wednesday.
Looking forward, Lundin Mining said that it expects to increase its zinc, lead and silver production with the start up of the Aljustrel mine in mid-2007 and with the potential to increase zinc production at the Neves-Corvo mine which is currently being studied.
In addition, the Ozernoe Project will provide a substantial increase in zinc and lead production. The new Lundin Mining's balance sheet had total cash and short term investments of $229 million, and long term debt of $43 million. Pro-forma sales for the first half of 2006 amounted to $462 million with an operating cash flow of $203 million, as of June 30, 2006.
Colin K Benner, CEO of Lundin Mining said: "We expect to move quickly to take advantage of our development and exploration prospects and as well to evaluate other growth opportunities around the world." Lukas Lundin will continue as chairman of Lundin Mining Corporation and Colin K. Benner will be vice chairman and CEO. Both will remain based in Vancouver while Karl-Axel Waplan, who will be the president and COO of Lundin Mining, will remain based in Stockholm.
