I don't see a 40% drop in this announcement. I don't believe the Company did either, but time will tell. It was probably foolish for this news to come out unaccompanied by new grades, resolutions etc. Just maybe the company is by the book. Down the line as they say. Who is willing to buy at these prices without any further news? It's a gamble isn't it? Here is the ann..
"Cobar Consolidated Resources Limited (ASX:CCU) announced today that lower grade ore was impacting silver production during its commissioning and transition phase.
The lower grade ore is arising from two sources; Medium grade ROM stockpiles where the grade in the stockpile has been overestimated, and lower than expected grade ore from the Boundary pit.
While the reasons for initial grade estimation errors at Boundary Pit are currently being investigated, recent infill and grade control drilling has highlighted greater grade variability than expected. A new optimised pit design is being developed and will be implemented by end January 2013. In the short term, the Company will not meet its target production rate of 2.5Moz per annum by December 2012. A revised short term production schedule is being prepared and the impact of it on the production target will be understood once the schedule is complete. Work continues on the implementation of the improvement and debottlenecking projects for the processing plant. The installation of the mill and other debottlenecking activities will eliminate processing inefficiency and reduce the amount of screen oversize material currently being generated and stockpiled for later processing. The completion of all of the projects will result in a net increase in the ore being presented to the leach circuit of around 20%. The projects will be progressively implemented from December with the mill installation expected to be completed by mid 2013. The Company has appointed former WMC senior executive Ken Tranter to project manage implementation of the mill installation, the improvement projects and the expansion study. The Company has adequate cash to meet all its funding needs including the debt repayments to CBA which commence in December 2012. "
CCU Price at posting:
33.5¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held