Troy opens Casposo, pays dividend

Tuesday, 7 June, 2011 - 11:16

Troy Resources shareholders have celebrated the official opening of its Casposo gold and silver mine in Argentina, after the Perth-based miner announced a 4 cents per share interim dividend.

Troy chief executive Paul Benson said the declaration of the dividend was a clear signal of the board's confidence in the company's performance as the Casposo mine ramps up.

The fully franked interim dividend will be paid on June 29.

"Casposo is already a very low cost mine - producing 4,414 oz of gold in April at a cash cost of just US$232/oz Au net of silver credits," Mr Benson said.

"In April we realised a gold price of US$1481 and thus had a pre-tax margin of over US$1200/oz.

"A four-day plant shut is planned in June to modify identified bottlenecks in the plant, following which we expect to reach budget throughput of 1,100 tpd, which will further reduce unit costs."

The ramp up in the plant throughput continued during April, averaging approximately 550 tonnes per day (tpd), compared to 360 tpd in March.

In May, throughput continued to increase averaging around 600 tpd with a peak of 910 tonnes in a single day.

Troy also provided an update today on its financial position, saying it had now drawn $30 million from its debt facility, with around $5 million remaining.

It said Casposo was now generating e4xcess cash, and Troy would have no need to draw additional funds from its finance facility.

At 11:14AM (WST) Troy shares had gained 2 cents, to trade at $3.47.

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