November 10, 2005; Revett Minerals Inc., Spokane Valley, Washington (“TSX-RVM”) is pleased to report to shareholders the operating and financial results for the three month and nine month periods ending September 30, 2005.  All currency in this release is in United States dollars unless otherwise indicated.

 

 

For the three months ended September 30, 2005 the Company reported a loss of $1.16 million after non controlling interests; or $0.02 per share bringing the total loss for the year to date to $2.3 million or $0.05 per share. For the nine month period ending September, 2005 the Company reported revenue from the sale of copper concentrates of $14.6 million with production costs of $14.5 million, including depreciation expense of $0.8 million; implying a profit from mining operations of $0.1 million. General and administrative costs totaled $1.6 million, net interest expense was $0.45 million, exploration and development spending at Troy and Rock Creek totaled $0.8 million and the reclamation and closure accrual totaled $0.4 million.

 

During the third quarter, the mine shipped and received payment for 1,585,592 payable pounds of copper and 191,658 payable ounces of silver. Metal sales for the first nine months of2005 are 6.1 million pounds of payable copper and 711,525 ounces of payable silver. During the nine month period ending September 30, 2005, the Company used approximately $1.2 million for operating activities and for the three month period ending September 30, 2005, the Company used approximately $2.2 million for operating activities.

 

The following is a summary of the financial, production, sales and shipment results from the Troy Mine for the three month and nine month periods ended September 30, 2005.

 

 

  

The third quarter of 2005 was the third full quarter of production from the Troy Mine. During the quarter the mill processed a total of 170,370 tons of ore (or an average of 1893 tpd). This compares with a total of 188,717 tons milled during the second quarter (an average throughput of 2,096 tpd). Metal production in the third quarter was 2.03 million pounds of copper and 243,106 ounces of silver. Cumulative metal production for the first nine months of 2005 was 6.2 million pounds of copper and 757,089 ounces of silver. The mine continues to ramp up its rate of production each month and we anticipate that production between 5,500 and 6,500 tpd may be reached by the end of the year. In the third quarter, ore grades were well above, planned levels.  The copper grade in the third quarter was 0.70% (budget was 0.55%) and silver grades were 1.66 oz/t (budget was 1.39 oz/t). Mill recoveries were only marginally below expectation for copper.  During the third quarter, copper recoveries were 84.7% versus planned recoveries of 86% and silver recoveries were 87.1% higher than budget recoveries of 87%. There can be no assurance that ore grades will remain above planned levels.

 

The Company has completed the initial phase of the 2005 diamond drill program.  This phase included three surface holes totaling 4,505 feet and two underground holes totaling 447 feet.  No results are available for the underground holes as of the date of this release.  Partial results from the three surface holes together with assays from the underground mine development program indicate an increase in the resource for the East Ore body middle quartzite.  The mineralized zone has been extended 250 feet to the east by mine development and continuity has been confirmed between the northern and southern blocks of the East Ore body middle quartzite by surface drilling.

 

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 and with the recent purchase of an additional bench drill, we anticipate that we will experience a material increase in mill throughput during the fourth quarter.”

 

 

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 has nearly completed its review of the Biological Opinion. The Company anticipates that the FWS will reissue its favorable Biological Opinion before year end.

 

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, and an application to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to commence with the Rock Creek evaluation adit. Revett completed the acquisition of the mitigation lands required during the evaluation stage of the Rock Creek project. The acquisition of these lands will assist the USFWS in strengthening its Biological Opinion. In addition to the above, the Company has initiated an extensive public relations campaign to educate the local stakeholders and state regulators about the significant benefits which would accrue to Montana and Idaho with the development of the Rock Creek project.

 

Revett Minerals, through its subsidiaries, owns both the Rock Creek Project and the Troy Mine located in northwest Montana. 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.