August 15, 2005; Revett Minerals Inc., Spokane, Washington (“TSX-RVM”) is pleased to report to shareholders the operating and financial results for the three month and six month periods ending June 30, 2005. All currency in this release is in dollars of the United States unless otherwise indicated.

 

 

For the three months ended June 30, 2005 the Company reported a loss of $848,894 after non controlling interests; or $ 0.01 per share bringing the total loss for the year to date to $1,137,446 or $0.03 per share. For the six month period ending June 30, 2005 the Company reported revenue from the sale of copper concentrates of $9.74 million with production costs of $9.43 million; implying a profit from mining operations of $0.3 million. In accordance with Canadian generally accepted accounting principles, the Company may only record revenue from concentrate shipments when it has reasonable assurance that the weights and assays on such shipments accurately reflect the amount of metal being sold. Consequently, the Company did not record revenue from the concentrate shipments made in the first quarter of 2005 until the start of the second quarter of 2005. For future periods, the Company will record revenue from concentrate shipments in the month such shipments occur. General and administrative costs totaled $1.1 million, net interest expense was $0.33 million, and the reclamation and closure accrual totaled $0.23 million. Depreciation and the amortization of the excess purchase price on the acquisition of Revett Silver Company was $0.1 million.

 

During the second quarter, the mine shipped and received payment for 2,681,765 payable pounds of copper and 305,793 payable ounces of silver. Metal sales for the first six months of 2005 are 4.55 million pounds of payable copper and 522,878 ounces of payable silver. During the six month period ending June 30, 2005, the Company generated approximately $994,200 from operating activities and for the three month period ending June 30, 2005, the company used approximately $479,700 in operating activities.

 

The following is a summary of the financial, production, sales and shipment results from the Troy Mine for the three month and six month periods ended June 30, 2005. There was no production in the corresponding period of 2004.

 

 

 

The second quarter of 2005 was the second full quarter of production from the Troy Mine. During the quarter the mill processed a total of 188,717 tons of ore (or an average of 2,051 tpd). This compares with a total of 200,997 tons milled during the first quarter (an average throughput of 2,233 tpd). Metal production in the second quarter was 2.45 million pounds of copper and 301,759 ounces of silver. Cumulative metal production for the first half of 2005 was 4.9 million pounds of copper and 604,348 ounces of silver. The mine continues to ramp up its rate of production each month and we anticipate that production of 6,500 tpd may be reached in the latter part of the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter. In the second quarter, ore grades were well above planned levels. The copper grade in the second quarter was 0.79% (budget was 0.55%) and silver grades were 1.86 oz/t (budget was 1.39 oz/t). Mill recoveries were slightly below expectation because of higher non-sulphide ore. During the second quarter, copper recoveries were 81.6% versus planned recoveries of 86% and silver recoveries were 86% compared to budget recoveries of 87%. There can be no assurance that ore grades will remain above planned levels. Additionally, recoveries should stabilize over the coming months at the levels originally anticipated. Net revenue per ton averaged over $22.98 per ton compared to budgeted revenue of $17.85 per ton for the first half of the year. For the same period costs of goods sold averaged $20.89 per ton.

 

Mr. William Orchow, President and CEO of Revett Minerals stated “We are pleased with the successful resumption of mining activities at the Troy Mine and are expending every possible effort to increase production up to or above our planned levels. With the receipt of the new mining equipment in late March, we anticipate that our planned production rate of 6,500 tons per day may be achieved by the end of the third quarter. Assuming that planned mill throughput is reached by the end of the third quarter, we estimate that a total of approximately 2 million ounces of silver and 17 million pounds of copper could be produced in 2005”.

 

 

 

At Rock Creek, the Company continues its efforts to advance the project in light of the unfavorable judgment on the Biological Opinion made by a judge in the U.S. District Court of Montana. Since that court’s ruling to remand the Biological Opinion back to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (“FWS”), the Company has been advised that the FWS should complete its update on the Biological Opinion near the end of the third quarter. The work initiated since March 2005 on the Rock Creek project includes the commissioning of numerous engineering project scoping studies, some base line water quality and hydrology studies, the application to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality of the application to commence with the Rock Creek evaluation adit and entering into option agreements to acquire the required mitigation lands.

 

Revett Minerals, through its subsidiaries, owns both the Rock Creek Project and the Troy Mine located in northwest Montana. If planned production is attained by the end of the third quarter, the Troy Mine is expected to produce approximately 2 million ounces of silver and 17 million pounds of copper in 2005. Based on the drilling to date, Rock Creek contains an estimated inferred resource of 136.6 million tons grading 1.67 ounces silver per ton and 0.72% copper, containing approximately 229 million ounces of silver and over 2 billion pounds of copper using a cut off grade of US $10.00 per ton. Further information on both the Troy Mine and the Rock Creek Project may be found in the National Instrument 43-101 reports at www.sedar.com. These reports were prepared on behalf of the Company by Jean-Francois Couture, P.Geo. and Ken Reipas P.Eng. of SRK Consulting (Canada) and they are qualified persons under National Instrument 43-101. All of these issues are discussed in greater detail in the Company’s official filings at www.sedar.com. 

 

William Orchow

President  & CEO

 

For more information, please contact:

Scott Brunsdon, CFO or Doug Ward, VP Corporate Development at (509) 921-2294 or visit our website at www.revettminerals.com.