Back on safe footing after near-annihilation during the GFC, copper producer Weatherly International (AIM: WTI) has a new project in Namibia set to take the miner to new heights.

The UK-based, Namibia-focUsed company came out of the economic downturn with two of its underground copper mines, otjihase and Matchless, still intact. these namibian mines have JorC-compliant proven and prob- able reserves of 3,253,400 tonnes and 710,000 tonnes respectively. Since reopening the mines in early 2011, Weatherly has been ramping up their production to reach a current production rate of between 5,000-6,000tpa. Weatherly is a small copper producer, but – as the only one on the aIM market – significant nonetheless.

But Weatherly’s profile is soon to change. Commence- ment of production at the major tschudi project is set to make the company much larger and more significant in just a few years’ time. Weatherly Chief executive rod Webster says the copper project will be “transformational” for the company.

“the old underground mines do have quite a bit of life still in them, [but] they are what they’ll always be,” he remarks. “tschudi is an open-pit mine utilising a SX-eW [Solvent extrac- tion, electro-Winning] processing method that is very cost effective. It will produce 17,000 tonnes of copper a year, compared with our current maximum of 6,000. So it’s a massive step forward for us – it takes us from being a minnow to being on the radar.”