Our Company
Quadra is a growth focused mid size copper and base metal producing company based in North America. We own and operate the Robinson Mine near Ely, Nevada,the Carlota Mine near Miami, Arizona and the recently acquired Franke Mine in northern Chile. We also own 100% of the Sierra Gorda Project,also in northern Chile and 99% of International Molybdenum plc which holds the rights to the Malmbjerg molybdenum project in Greenland.
The Company was founded in 2002 by our current Chairman, William Myckatyn, and Chief Executive Officer, Paul Blythe, with the objective of becoming a leading mid size base metals company with 500 million pounds of annual copper and copper equivalent production.
Since the initial public offering in April of 2004, we have grown from a startup company to a 200 million pound per year copper producer with three operating mines, a portfolio of two world class development projects and a staff of over 900 employees. As we celebrate our fifth year in business, we believe the Company has matured with a clearly articulated vision. We have a proven track record of promise and delivery and expect to become a leading consolitador and a premier investment vehicle in the mid-tier copper space.
Our Assets
The Robinson Mine
The Robinson Mine is an open pit copper and gold mine located in eastern Nevada near the town of Ely. Quadra acquired the mine from BHP Billiton in 2004 and recommenced operations that year. The operation consists of an open pit mine and processing facility with the associated infrastucture. Approximately 160 million pounds of copper and 138 thousand ounces of gold were recovered from the processed ore in 2008. Based on current reserve estimates, the mine plan provides for mining activity until 2016, with processing of stock pile ores until 2017.
The Carlota Mine
The Carlota Mine is a heap leach - Solvent Extraction Electrowinning ("SX-EW") operation in the west end of the Miami-Globe mining district of east-central Arizona. Production of copper cathode at the Carlota Mine commenced in December 2008. The plant design has a capacity of 70 million pounds of copper cathode production per annum over its estimated 11 year mine life.
The Franke Mine
The Franke Mine is a heap leach - SX/EW operation in northern Chile. The Franke processing plant is designed with a nominal design capacity of 70 million pounds of copper cathode production per annum over its estimated current 8.6 year mine life. The Franke process facilities are complete and producing cathode copper under pre-start-up testing.
The Sierra Gorda Project
The 100% owned Sierra Gorda Project is a development-stage copper project located in the Atacama Desert of Region II, northern Chile with an NI 43-101 compliant resource of 22.5 billion pounds of contained copper equivalent. Initial engineering studies indicate that Sierra Gorda is expected to produce an LOM average of 400+ MM lbs Cu-equivalent average per annum for a mine life of over 25 years. Quadra is now advancing the project towards a pre-feasibility/feasibility level study and pursuing partnership opportunities to fund its development.
The Malmbjerg Project
Quadra holds a 99% interest in the Malmbjerg molybdenum development project which is located on the east coast of Greenland. Initial engineering studies indicate that Malmbjerg is capable of producing 7,500 - 10,400 tonnes of molybdenum a year over a 15 - 20 year mine life. Malmbjerg is one of the highest grade open-pitable molybdenum deposits in the world, and now has the advantage of being fully permitted. With that in place, Quadra is now pursuing partnership opportunities to fund its development.
Our Business Strategy
Quadra's strategic plan is based on growing to a production rate in excess of 500 million pounds of copper equivalent per year from diverse operations and with a pipeline of development projects in place for long term sustainability and growth. Our strategy is to expand our base metals production capabilities, to reduce the average cash costs across our projects,to maintain our profitability throughout the commodity price cycle and generate cash flow to fund attractive investment opportunities.
- Increase Production and Diversify Operating Assets. We plan to reinvest cash flow generated from operations to fund our inventory of development projects and expand our operations. In addition, we plan to pursue acquisitions that will be value-enhancing and will grow our reserves and production base. Our acquisition strategy focuses on acquiring assets within our established core areas of expertise that are expected to create long-term value and are in poltically secure jurisdictions.
- Reduce Cash Costs. We are focused on reducing our cash costs at the Robinson Mine and in managing cash costs at the Carlota and Franke Mines to maintain profitability throughout the commodity price cycle.
- Focus on Copper. We have considerable technical expertise and have achieved significant success in developing and operating base metal mines including copper and zinc projects. We plan to continue to focus on finding and developing long-life base metal assets that are expected to be profitable and provide us with an attractive return on capital.
Our Competitive Strengths
We believe that the following strengths provide us with significant competitive advantages as we execute our business strategy:
- Experienced Management Team and Employees. Our Chief Executive Officer and senior operating personnel have been involved in base metal development and operations on average for over 25 years each and have a proven performance record through their work in large mining companies such as BHP Billiton, Placer Dome Inc., Rio Algom Limited, Barrick Gold Corporation and Phelps Dodge Corporation and in mid-tier companies such as Gibraltar Mines Ltd., Westmin Resources, Inc., Princeton Mining Inc. and Viceroy Resource Corporation.
- Ability to Capitalize on Recovering Market Dynamics. We expect to benefit from a recovering copper market environment, the consolidation within the sector, which has concentrated supply and limited competition for smaller assets, and the availability of single asset companies to be acquired by leveraging the skill sets of our management and directors, including financing, development and construction of projects and acquisition and integration, as well as the operation of large scale copper mines and projects.
We expect to produce an average of 250 - 300 million pounds of annual copper production in 2010 once the Franke Mine ramps up to become fully operational. We plan to reinvest our internally generated cash flow to fund the expansion of our existing production facilities and selective value-enhancing acquisitions.
- Technical Expertise. Through our years of experience we have developed significant technical expertise in operating and developing mines. We believe our technical ability enables us to generate new prospects and develop new mines, and to acquire new mining operations.
- Well-invested Asset Base. Our primary asset, the Robinson Mine, is a well equipped facility which we acquired in 2004 from BHP Copper Inc. Beginning in 1994, Magma Copper Company, which was later acquired by BHP Copper Inc., constructed and started up a modern mining and sulfide concentrating facility at the Robinson Mine at a reported cost of U.S. $480 million. Similarly, we benefited from approximately U.S. $68 million spent over 14 years on permitting and feasibility studies at the Carlota Mine by Cambior prior to our acquisition of it in 2005, as well as Centenario's investment of U.S. $260 million in the Franke Mine which we acquired in 2009.
- Ability to Acquire and Integrate Strategic Assets. Our management and board of directors have demonstrated an ability to make and integrate strategic corporate, land and facility acquisitions. Future growth opportunities will be pursued through systematic review of industry activities, ownership changes and other competitive intelligence processes. A streamlined decision process and our ability to move quickly represent a considerable advantage over the larger copper producers and our experience accessing both the debt and equity capital markets represents an advantage over many other mid-tier producers.
In summary, our strategy for increasing shareholder value centres on expanding and diversifying our production through development of our existing properties and the acquisition of interests in advanced exploration, development and producing base metal opportunities with a focus on copper.
| |
|