Seems M & G cant take a trick - they are still the number 1...

Seems M & G cant take a trick - they are still the number 1 shareholder of OZL with 49m shares to go with their 24m remaining CDU shares


OZ Minerals Copper Output Falls 32% as Production Costs Rise

Jul 25, 2013 9:33 AM GMT+1000 ..


OZ Minerals Ltd. (OZL), Australia’s third-biggest copper producer, said second-quarter production fell 32 percent from a year ago, missing analysts’ estimates, as it retained its full-year target.

Output was 17,379 metric tons in the three months to June 30, from 25,521 metric tons a year earlier, the Melbourne-based company said today in a statement. The median estimate of four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was 20,600 metric tons.

Cash costs rose to $1.95 per pound from $1.18 in the same quarter a year ago, the company said. OZ Minerals is cutting jobs and has delayed a decision on whether to develop its Carrapateena project, citing rising labor and equipment costs. A total of 61 jobs were cut last month at the Prominent Hill mine, it said.

“Lower labor costs are expected in the second half of the year with the reduced headcount,” the company said in the statement.

OZ Minerals cut its full-year gold production forecast to 120,000 ounces to 130,000 ounces, from 130,000 ounces to 150,000 ounces. The company produced 31,018 ounces of gold in the three months ended June 30, compared with 34,475 ounces a year earlier, it said in the statement.

Copper production was lower as a result of a slip in the overburden of the south wall in Prominent Hill’s open pit, it said. “The expectation is that the second half of the year will have higher production levels than the first half,” the company said in the statement.

OZ Minerals reiterated its full-year copper production forecast of 82,000 tons to 88,000 tons. It revised down in April a previous forecast of 90,000 tons to 95,000 tons.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-24/oz-minerals-copper-output-falls-32-as-production-costs-rise.html