Strategic Minerals makes first shipment from Cobre mine

Strategic Minerals, a magnetite iron ore producer and exploration company, has announced the start of full-scale production and completion of its first export market shipment from its magnetite tailings deposit at the Cobre Mine in New Mexico.

The company said that following this first sale, which totalled 47,000 dry metric tonnes (DMT), it is now "well-positioned" to deliver shipments in the export market of around 50,000 DMT per month.

James Fyfe, Executive Chairman of Strategic Minerals, said: "We are delighted to announce completion of our first export market shipment to one of the world's leading commodity suppliers [Glencore International]. It is a hugely important milestone for the company. This achievement marks the end of the development stage and the beginning of what will undoubtedly be a very exciting future for Strategic. It demonstrates not only the strength of our business model and our ability to acquire projects that can deliver shareholder value quickly, but also the ability of our management to execute on those projects."

Paul Harrison, CEO of the Company, added: "We are excited that this important development has now been completed. Achieving in-production status for a junior mining company incorporated only two years ago and listed on the AIM Market less than eighteen months ago is a true testament to our commitment to achieving our stated goals in early course for our shareholders.

"Supplying our high quality magnetite ore to commercial customers through the export market will enable us to ramp up our revenues significantly. To date we have only been able to truck haul a limited amount of product from the mine site."

The share price leapt 17.65% to 5p in early trading.

NR