Endeavor’s parent company CBH Resources yesterday released its figures for the September quarter, with its Cobar operation reporting a significant increase in ore extraction

In a media statement CBH chief executive officer and managing director Stephen Dennis said there were plans in place for the mine to be operating at close to full capacity by the middle of 2010.

Mr Dennis later spoke to the Dubbo Daily Liberal and reiterated the company’s desire to increase productivity but admitted management wouldn’t rush into anything.

“This quarter we have turned in our best report for some time,” Mr Dennis said.

“We had planned for mining 420,000 tonnes of ore this year and we got to 462,000 tonnes.

“Planning is well advanced to return the mine to 850,000 tonnes per annum in mid-2010 at the current mining grades.”

A return to such productivity would require further staff and Mr Dennis said the town of Cobar was vital to his company.

“We have retained all of our housing in the town,” he said.

“The idea is that we will have a progressive ramp- up of exploration and staffing which will see us go from the 120 staff we have now to 200 when we get back to our peak operation

“We forecasted that we would eventually be back at close to full operation and while it is a while off yet, we are taking it slowly in order to make sure we get everything right.

“The town has supported us and we are keen to support the town. If we were to see such signs of recovery and rush back into things, we could

make mistakes and things would spiral backwards again.”

Mr Dennis said the company’s financial position had also shown a significant improvement with the cash balance at the end of September reaching $44.9 million, an increase of $16.8 million during the three months since June 30.

The additional cash included the receipt of $11 million received following the sale of Nymagee’s Hera deposit to YTC Resources Ltd.