Taseko
Mines Announces Senior Management Appointments
VANCOUVER, BC, Nov. 20, 2023 -
Taseko Mines Limited (TSX: TKO) (NYSE American: TGB) (LSE: TKO)
("Taseko" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the following
executive management appointments.
Richard Tremblay, MBA, P.Eng., has been appointed Chief
Operating Officer, and Terry Morris,
P.Eng., has joined Taseko as Vice President, Operations.
Richard
joined Taseko in 2014 as General Manager of the Gibraltar Mine
before transitioning to the corporate leadership team where he has
been acting as Senior Vice President, Operations in recent
years. Richard
has over 30 years of mining industry experience focussed on
large-scale open pit mining operations and mineral
processing.
He has
been instrumental in the development of the Florence Copper
Project, including the successful permitting process and technical
de-risking of the project.
Richard
will continue to have responsibility for all of Taseko's operations
and project development activities.
Terry Morris is a mining engineer with nearly 20 years of
experience in mining operations management, mine planning, and
regulatory compliance. Terry
was most recently with Barrick Gold
in mine management roles at Pueblo Viejo in the Dominican Republic, and the Turquoise Ridge
and Phoenix mines in Nevada, USA.
He
previously held senior operating and management roles with Peabody
Australia, Westmoreland Coal and Teck Resources.
Stuart McDonald, President and CEO of Taseko, commented,
"These changes to our senior operating team provide additional
management capacity to support our growth plan and strategy of
becoming a North America focused,
multi-asset copper producer. Our recent successful permitting and
financing milestones are significant steps towards realizing the
full value of our Florence Copper project, which is now
transitioning into the construction phase, with commercial
operations expected in 2025."
Stuart McDonald
President
and CEO
No
regulatory authority has approved or disapproved of the information
contained in this news release.
Caution
Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This
document contains "forward-looking statements" that were based on
Taseko's expectations, estimates and projections as of the dates as
of which those statements were made. Generally, these
forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of
forward-looking terminology such as "outlook", "anticipate",
"project", "target", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "intend",
"should" and similar expressions.
Forward-looking
statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties
and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results,
level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially
different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. These included but are not limited to:
-
uncertainties about the
future market price of copper and the other metals that we produce
or may seek to produce;
-
changes in general
economic conditions, the financial markets, inflation and interest
rates and in the demand and market price for our input costs, such
as diesel fuel, reagents, steel, concrete, electricity and other
forms of energy, mining equipment, and fluctuations in exchange
rates, particularly with respect to the value of the U.S. dollar
and Canadian dollar, and the continued availability of capital and
financing;
-
uncertainties resulting
from the war in Ukraine, and the
accompanying international response including economic sanctions
levied against Russia, which has
disrupted the global economy, created increased volatility in
commodity markets (including oil and gas prices), and disrupted
international trade and financial markets, all of which have an
ongoing and uncertain effect on global economics, supply chains,
availability of materials and equipment and execution timelines for
project development;
-
uncertainties about the
continuing impact of the novel coronavirus ("COVID-19") and the
response of local, provincial, state, federal and international
governments to the ongoing threat of COVID-19, on our operations
(including our suppliers, customers, supply chains, employees and
contractors) and economic conditions generally including rising
inflation levels and in particular with respect to the demand for
copper and other metals we produce;
-
inherent risks associated
with mining operations, including our current mining operations at
Gibraltar, and their potential
impact on our ability to achieve our production
estimates;
-
uncertainties as to our
ability to control our operating costs, including inflationary cost
pressures at Gibraltar without
impacting our planned copper production;
-
the risk of inadequate
insurance or inability to obtain insurance to cover material mining
or operational risks;
-
uncertainties related to
the feasibility study for Florence copper project (the "Florence
Copper Project" or "Florence Copper") that provides estimates of
expected or anticipated capital and operating costs, expenditures
and economic returns from this mining project, including the impact
of inflation on the estimated costs related to the construction of
the Florence Copper Project and our other development
projects;
-
the risk that the results
from our operations of the Florence Copper production test facility
("PTF") and ongoing engineering work including updated capital and
operating costs will negatively impact our estimates for current
projected economics for commercial operations at Florence
Copper;
-
uncertainties related to
the accuracy of our estimates of Mineral Reserves (as defined
below), Mineral Resources (as defined below), production rates and
timing of production, future production and future cash and total
costs of production and milling;
-
the risk that we may not
be able to expand or replace reserves as our existing mineral
reserves are mined;
-
the availability of, and
uncertainties relating to the development of, additional financing
and infrastructure necessary for the advancement of our development
projects, including with respect to our ability to obtain any
remaining construction financing potentially needed to move forward
with commercial operations at Florence Copper;
-
our ability to comply with
the extensive governmental regulation to which our business is
subject;
-
uncertainties related to
our ability to obtain necessary title, licenses and permits for our
development projects and project delays due to third party
opposition, particularly in respect to Florence Copper that
requires one key regulatory permit from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency ("EPA") in order to advance to commercial
operations;
-
our ability to deploy
strategic capital and award key contracts to assist with protecting
the Florence Copper project execution plan, mitigating inflation
risk and the potential impact of supply chain disruptions on our
construction schedule and ensuring a smooth transition into
construction once the final permit is received from the
EPA;
-
uncertainties related to
First Nations claims and consultation issues;
-
our reliance on rail
transportation and port terminals for shipping our copper
concentrate production from Gibraltar;
-
uncertainties related to
unexpected judicial or regulatory proceedings;
-
changes in, and the
effects of, the laws, regulations and government policies affecting
our exploration and development activities and mining operations
and mine closure and bonding requirements;
-
our dependence solely on
our 87.5% interest in Gibraltar
(as defined below) for revenues and operating
cashflows;
-
our ability to collect
payments from customers, extend existing concentrate off-take
agreements or enter into new agreements;
-
environmental issues and
liabilities associated with mining including processing and stock
piling ore;
-
labour strikes, work
stoppages, or other interruptions to, or difficulties in, the
employment of labour in markets in which we operate our mine,
industrial accidents, equipment failure or other events or
occurrences, including third party interference that interrupt the
production of minerals in our mine;
-
environmental hazards and
risks associated with climate change, including the potential for
damage to infrastructure and stoppages of operations due to forest
fires, flooding, drought, or other natural events in the vicinity
of our operations;
-
litigation risks and the
inherent uncertainty of litigation, including litigation to which
Florence Copper could be subject to;
-
our actual costs of
reclamation and mine closure may exceed our current estimates of
these liabilities;
-
our ability to meet the
financial reclamation security requirements for the Gibraltar mine and Florence
Project;
-
the capital intensive
nature of our business both to sustain current mining operations
and to develop any new projects, including Florence
Copper;
-
our reliance upon key
management and operating personnel;
-
the competitive
environment in which we operate;
-
the effects of forward
selling instruments to protect against fluctuations in copper
prices, foreign exchange, interest rates or input costs such as
fuel;
-
the risk of changes in
accounting policies and methods we use to report our financial
condition, including uncertainties associated with critical
accounting assumptions and estimates; and Management Discussion and
Analysis ("MD&A"), quarterly reports and material change
reports filed with and furnished to securities regulators, and
those risks which are discussed under the heading "Risk
Factors".
For
further information on Taseko, investors should review the
Company's annual Form 40-F filing with the United States Securities
and Exchange Commission www.sec.gov and home jurisdiction filings
that are available at www.sedar.com, including the "Risk Factors"
included in our Annual Information Form.
See the
Company's website at www.tasekomines.com or contact: Brian Bergot, Vice President, Investor
Relations -
778-373-4533 or toll free 1-877-441-4533