Tiger Resources Limited - December 2013 Quarterly Activities Report

Perth, Australia (ABN Newswire) - Tiger Resources Ltd. (ASX:TGS) (TSE:TGS) ("Tiger" or "the Company") is pleased to report its activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for the December 2013 Quarter.


KIPOI COPPER PROJECT (TIGER: 60%)

Overview

The Kipoi Copper Project is located approximately 75km NNW of Lubumbashi in the Katanga Province of the DRC. Tiger has a 60% interest in La Société d'Exploitation de Kipoi SPRL (SEK), a DRC-registered company which is the operator at Kipoi.

Tiger is undertaking a phased development at Kipoi, where the Stage 1 heavy media separation (HMS) plant is currently in production, and on the basis of recently completed grade control drilling Tiger now expects to process 3.5Mt of ore grading approximately 7% Cu to produce a total of 132,000 tonnes of copper-in-concentrate over its 42-month life.

Stage 1 HMS operations are planned to produce stockpiles with 147,000 tonnes of contained copper. These stockpiles will provide the feed for the Stage 2 solvent-extraction and electro-winning (SXEW) plant for the first three years of operations. The current stockpile status is as follows:

Kipoi Central Stockpiles available as SXEW feed As at 31 December 2013

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Stockpile    Tonnes (MT) Cu Grade (%) Copper (000'T) Value(1)
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HMS Floats        1.0       3.1%       31.4          $231m
HMS Slimes        0.9       3.5%       32.8          $241m
High-grade ROM(2) 0.6       6.0%       34.2          $251m
Medium-grade ROM  0.5       2.6%       13.0          $96m
Low-grade ROM     2.3       1.1%       25.2          $185m
                  5.3       2.6%      136.6          $1,004m
-------------------------------------------------------------

Notes:(1) The value of contained copper in stockpiles is calculated before copper recovery from the Stage 2 SXEW operation (Life of mine average recovery of the Stage 2 SXEW operation is 82%) based on the LME copper price as at 20th January 2014 of $7,340/t.

(2) High-grade ROM is available as feed to the Stage 1 HMS operation and/or the Stage 2 SXEW. The high-grade ROM processed through the Stage 1 HMS plant will achieve an average recovery of 60% with the unrecovered copper stockpiled as HMS Floats and Fines rejects available as feed to the Stage 2 SXEW.


Construction of the Stage 2 SXEW plant commenced in January 2013 and was 87% complete at the end of December 2013. The plant remains within budget and ahead of schedule, with first production of copper cathode due in Q2 2014. The feasibility study (FS) for Stage 2 has confirmed the operation as a low-cost, high-margin project capable of producing 532,100 tonnes of copper cathode over 11 years, processing ore reserves from the Kipoi Central, Kileba and Kipoi North deposits and reject floats, slimes and medium grade ore stockpiles from the Stage 1 HMS operation.

The Stage 2 site cash operating costs are forecast at $0.72/lb for the first two years of the operation (no mining required), increasing thereafter to produce a life of mine (LOM) average of $1.04/lb and a LOM average C3 cost (all in cost) of less than US$1.75/lb.

It is envisaged that ore from Judeira and other deposits within the Kipoi Project area, and within the nearby 100%-owned Lupoto Project, will also be processed during the Stage 2 operations, providing additional returns and increasing the ore reserves available as feedstock to the Stage 2 Kipoi SXEW plant. Increased resources from these deposits will potentially increase the mine life and/or the annual plant throughput.


Mining

During the quarter, 994,395 tonnes of material were moved to deliver 419,578 tonnes of high-grade ore averaging 6.1% Cu to the ROM stockpile at a stripping ratio of 1.4:1.

Total tonnes of material mined during the year was 7.8% higher than the budget at 4,434,763 tonnes, primarily due to the additional volumes of low-grade ore that is stockpiled as feed available to the Stage 2 SXEW plant.


Processing

Ore throughput was 208,464 tonnes during the quarter. The copper head grade of 6.86% and recovery of 58.2% achieved during the quarter were within expectations. During 2013, the copper head grade of 7.0% and recovery of 59.6% outperformed the Company's expectations.

Planned maintenance activities during the quarter reduced the plant availability to 76%. The Company offset this by increasing the plantthroughput rate to 184 tonnes per hour.


Operating Costs

Direct cash costs (mining, processing and administration) for the quarter totalled $51.9 million, representing a cost of $0.57/lb of copper produced.Excluding certain prior yearmining cost adjustments and other general administration costs, underlying direct cash operating costs were $45.1 million or $0.50/lb of copper produced in concentrate.

Mining costs were 12% higher than budget due to a 7.8% increase in the volume of material moved and unit costs being 4% higher than budget due to higher fuel consumption from the mining fleet that is nearing the end of its life, higher explosive costs, and higher than planned mined volumes of low-grade ore involving additional haulage distances to the Kipoi SXEW plant ROM stockpiles.

Processing costs were higher than planned due to the grid power connection not being available until December 2013 and the consequent increased volume of power sourced from higher cost diesel-generated power; increased water royalty payments; and higher than budgeted maintenance costs due to increased ore processing throughput and higher abrasivity of the ore processed.

A total of $8.9 million was paid in royalties during the quarter, representing a cost of $0.10/lb of copper produced.


Concentrate Sales

A total of 41,864 tonnes of concentrate was sold during the quarter for revenue of $42.9 million at an average realised copper price of $6,764/t. This represents contained copper--concentrate of 9,410 tonnes and a payable copper content of 6,340 tonnes.

Approximately 64% of concentrate was sold under existing offtake arrangements to local smelters within the DRC, and the remaining 36% was exported to China. Export selling costs, including taxes and charges, clearing, transport and concentrate treatment/refining charges, totalled $11.5 million for the quarter.

To view the quarterly report, with diagrams, please visit:
http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-TGS-665285.pdf


About Tiger Resources Limited:

Tiger Resources Ltd. (ASX:TGS) has established itself as a producing copper/cobalt company with excellent growth potential after making the transition from an explorer. We have a highly-rated portfolio of properties, all strategically located on the world renowned Katanga Copperbelt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), central Africa.



Contact:

Tiger Resources Ltd.
Brad Marwood, Managing Director
Tel: (+61 8) 6188 2000
Email: bmarwood@tigerez.com

Stephen Hills, Finance Director
Tel: (+61 8) 6188 2000
Email: shills@tigerez.com

Nathan Ryan, Investor Relations
Tel: (+61 0)420 582 887
Email: nryan@tigerez.com