Sierra Rutile, Sierra Leone’s oldest mining company, which mines ingredients for the manufacture of titanium, has reported impressive increases in production across the three months to the end of June, with Rutile production growing 60% to nearly 22,000 tonnes -from 13,693 tonnes in the same period of 2011. Production for the first half of 2012 is now 57% ahead of that for 2011.

Commenting on the second quarter performance, Chief Executive John Sisay said: “We have seen another strong quarter of rutile production and good progress on all of the expansion projects. This is now the fourth quarter in a row that we have met our production guidance, which is the result of the significant improvements we made during 2011.”

Sierra Rutile confirmed its full-year rutile production guidance of between 80,000 and 85,000 tonnes of rutile and said its dry mining site project is on schedule and budget, with commissioning expected in the final quarter of this year.

“With the dry mining now likely to commence before the year-end and the other growth projects progressing well, I am confident that we will meet our targets both in terms of production and the delivery of our expansion projects,” Mr. Sisay elaborated.