Eastern Platinum revealed yesterday (16th April) that it managed to produce a record amount of pgms at its Crocodile River Mine (CRM) in the first quarter of 2009.

The Vancouver-based company confirmed that pgm output at the South African mine was 32,969 oz, representing an increase of 18.5 per cent from the equivalent period in 2008.

Furthermore, the statistics show that hard-rock ore processed increased from 257,748 tonnes to 318,394 tonnes over the year, with a 41,765 oz rise in the past three months alone.

Commenting on the results, Chief Executive Officer Ian Rozier said: "We plan to continue this trend with annual 2009 production expected to be in the order of 135,000 pgm ounces.

"We believe that Eastplats is meeting the challenges that face the sector in the short term and we remain very optimistic about the mid and long-term prospects for the company."

Mr Rozier also explained that Eastern Platinum has almost no replacement capital requirements this year, having already invested in CRM and delayed other development plans, Mining Weekly reports.

Discussing the results in a conference call, he noted that improving pgm prices mean the company may not necessarily be forced to reduce the level of development metres, as previously suggested last year.

"When prices were a lot lower, we were definitely looking at further cuts in development as we would have to schedule them in, to survive the downturn," he was quoted by the news provider as saying.

"But with the prices coming back and our production going up and everything else working so well at the mine, we have been able to keep producing, keep increasing production and hopefully cutting our costs, without having to make that sacrifice at this time."

Eastern Platinum is Canada's leading pgm producer and has interests on both the western and eastern limbs of South Africa's Bushveld Complex.

Sources:

Eastplats meeting challenges 'head on' – CEO Rozier (16/04/09)Eastplats Reports Record Production For The Quarter Ended March 31, 2009 (16/04/09)