Record Q4 and 2005 earnings for First Quantum

Vancouver – Soaring copper prices drove home the bottom line for First Quantum Minerals (FM-T, FQM-L, FQVLF-O) enroute to record profits for 2005 as well as the year’s final quarter.

Net earnings for 2005 were US$152.8 million or US$2.48 per share, up a hefty 446% over the prior year. Strong fourth quarter earnings of US$57.1 million, or US$0.93 per share, increased 514% over the corresponding period of 2004.

Copper production in 2005 was 263 million pounds (119,117 tonnes), a strong 187% increase over the previous year’s output. Adding significantly to last year’s production was the Kansanshi mine, which came on-stream last April and had production ramp-up to 65.1 million pounds (29,558 tonnes) of copper in Q4. Total output from the mine last year was 153 million pounds (69,579 tonnes) of copper, accounting for more than half of the company’s total.

First Quantum realized an average copper sale price of US$1.66 per pound for 2005. Gross selling price was US$1.79 per pound, above last year’s London Metal Exchange average cash price of US$1.67 per pound due to favourable contract pricing terms.

At its 80%-owned Kansanshi operation, in Zambia’s North Western Province, about 7.3 million tonnes of ore was mined in 2005, at an average grade of almost 2% copper. Combined annual cash costs for cathode and concentrate was US$0.63 per pound of copper, with a total cost of US$0.79 per pound.

Operations at Bwana-Lonshi, in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia, mined 981,000 tonnes of ore averaging 5.1% copper in 2005 to produce 109 million pounds (49,538 tonnes) of copper, up 19% from 2004. Cash costs of US$0.68 per pound of copper were realized, with total costs of US$0.93 per pound. Additionally, acid production from Ndola and Solwezi totaled 260,796 tonnes for the year, up 86% from the 140,200 tonnes produced in 2004, however surplus acid dropped substantially due requirements at Kansanshi.

First Quantum anticipates its 80%-owned Guelb Moghrein copper-gold project in Mauritania to reach commercial production by the third quarter of 2006. The operation is targeted to produce 66 million pounds (30,000 tonnes) of copper in concentrate and 70,000 oz. of gold annually.

The Frontier Copper project, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), recently received government environmental approvals and was issued an exploitation permit. A scoping study on the copper-cobalt deposit envisions average annual production of 176 million pounds (80,000 tonnes) of contained copper.

The company also recently launched a hostile takeover bid for Adastra Minerals (AAA-T, AAA-L, AMZIF-O), which is developing the Kolwezi copper-cobalt tailings project and the Kipushi copper-zinc mine in the DRC.