AIM-listed London Mining has posted strong results for production at its Sierra Leone-based Marampa mine, showing a 46 per cent increase in concentrate produced.

The volume of concentrate produced increased to 543,000 wet metric tonnes (wmt) in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2012 compared to 373,000 wmt in the third quarter.

Sales also increased by 30% to 387,000 wmt.

Overall, the group reported a full year production of 1.63m wmt (1.52M dry metric tonnes) exceeding the 2012 target of 1.5m dry metric tonnes (dmt).

The company further announced results for its scheduled expansion. It reported that the second plant was in the commissioning stage increasing capacity to 3.6m tonnes per annum (tpa) and stated that expansion to 5.0m tonnes per annum capacity was on track to complete in the third quarter of 2013.

With regard to its other projects, London mining stated that its Colombia operations had been placed under care and maintenance. It added that permitting submissions and public hearings had been completed for its Isua Project and permit was expected in 2013.

Graeme Hossie Chief Executive Officer of London Mining said: "London Mining has had an excellent finish to its first year of production at Marampa with a 46% increase in quarterly production allowing us to beat the full year production target we set in January 2012.

"We have also started commissioning of the second plant which positions us well to meet our target of increasing capacity to 5.0m tpa at an operating cost of under $50 per tonne. We have put our Colombian assets on care and maintenance with a view to rationalise the assets over time.

"This will enable us to better focus resources on Marampa which we expect to produce the greatest return on capital for shareholders in the near term."

MF

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