DJ Kazakh ShalkiyaZinc's 07 Production Figures Up,Misses Targets

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, Mar 03, 2008 (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex) --

Kazakh zinc and lead miner ShalkiyaZinc N.V. said Monday its ore mining and ore processing increased 88% and 51% on the year respectively in 2007 but missed its targets.

"2007 was a challenging year for ShalkiyaZinc. Although our annual production targets were not met, due to unforeseen delays in the Stage I Expansion, we now believe we have the appropriate processes in place to achieve our annual production rate of 1.5 million tons of ore," Chief Executive Marat Sarkytbayev said in a statement.

ShalkiyaZinc said in a statement its sales of zinc concentrate rose 36% on the year, adding that grade in zinc concentrate remained "unchanged from 2006 levels at 45%."

The company said that the figure for the ore mined totaled 738,000 metric tons.

"The company has also shown considerable growth in processing capacity, increasing the amount of ore processed by 51% to 645,160 tons," ShalkiyaZinc said. "Although the production figures for mining and processing have increased considerably the company did not meet its own target of processing 1 million tons of ore in 2007 and achieving an ongoing production level of 1.5mtpa."

Company Web site: www.zinc.kz

-By Kadyr Toktogulov, Dow Jones Newswires; +7 701 726 4327, kadyr.toktogulov@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-03-08 0804ET

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