Vancouver, B.C., December 17, 2013 VMS Ventures Inc. (TSX-V:VMS) (“VMS Ventures” or the “Company”)is pleased to update shareholders on the considerable progress made at the Reed mine, near Flin Flon Manitoba, during the month of November. VMS Ventures owns 30% of the project and is carried to production. Hudbay Minerals Inc. (TSX:HBM)(NYSE:HBM) ("Hudbay") owns 70% and is the Operator.
VMS Ventures has received the Reed mine update for November from its joint venture partner and operator Hudbay. During the month of November the project reached a number of milestones including:
- Surpassing 2,000 metres of total underground project and pre-production development
- 627 consecutive days without a lost time accident
- Completion of 85 metre level ore development from zones 30 and 20 and production of 13,154 tonnes of ore
- Completion of two ventilation raises from the 85 to 50 metre levels
- Commissioning of the main fresh air ventilation 600 HP fan on 50 metre level
- Project remains on budget and on schedule
In the month of November 294 metres of underground development were completed, reaching a total of 2,079 metres. Project development reached 1,662 metres with an additional 417 metres of pre-production development.
The focus for December will remain on safety and continued ramp development down to the 135 metre level and pre-production development at the 110 metre level of the mine.
The project remains on budget and on schedule and is expected to reach commercial production by the second quarter of 2014.
Neil Richardson, VMS Ventures' COO states: "We are very pleased to see that the rate of advancement reached 9.8 metres per day in November. This helped achieve the milestone of over two kilometers of underground development to date for the project. Also, the mine operations have prepared the first production stope which is very good news, as well. We expect this pace of progress to continue through December and into 2014 as we work towards commercial production at the Reed copper mine.”
Please visit the VMS website at http://www.vmsventures.com/investors/photo-gallery to view a slide show of the latest progress on the Reed mine.
