Coeur Mining Posts Fourth-Quarter Profit
(Kitco News) - Coeur Mining, Inc. (NYSE: CDE) wasprofitable in the fourth quarter and for full-year 2017 as the company hitrecord production for both periods.
The company late Wednesday listed fourth-quarter income of $14.3million, or 8 cents per share, a turnaround from a loss of $10.3 million, or 6cents, in the same period a year ago. Excluding special items, adjusted incomewas $14.1 million, or 8 cents, compared to $900,000, or a penny, in theyear-ago period.
For the full year, net income was $10.9 million, or 6 centsper share, down from $22.4 million, or 14 cents, in 2016.
Coeur listed its San Bartolom?(C) mine as a discontinuedoperation. The company announced the sale of its Bolivian subsidiary inDecember and reported that the transaction is expected to close in the firstquarter. As a result, the mine’s 4.3million ounces of silver are not listed in consolidated operating and financialresults, Coeur said.
Coeur listed record fourth quarter and full-year silverequivalent production. Output from continuing operations increased to 10.8million ounces from 8.7 million in the same period a year ago and 8.6 millionin the third quarter. Full-year production of 35.1 million silver-equivalentounces was up from 30.8 million in 2016.
The company said the fourth-quarter improvement was driven by45% and 26% increases at the Rochester and Palmarejo mines, respectively, and a27% increase in gold production at the Kensington mine. Record full-yearproduction was driven primarily by the Palmarejo mine, where 2017 silver-equivalentproduction rose 64% compared to 2016
Companywide adjusted average spot all-in sustaining costsper silver-equivalent ounce for the fourth quarter decreased to $12.26 from$14.29 in the year-ago period and $14.79 in the third quarter.
“During 2017, we successfully repositioned and strengthenedthe company on multiple fronts,” said Mitchell J. Krebs, president and chiefexecutive officer. “We upgraded our portfolio and pipeline of assets to reflecta North American focus with the acquisition of the high-grade Silvertip mine inCanada, our announced divestiture of our highest-cost mine in Bolivia and thesales of nine non-core assets. We repositioned our balance sheet to providegreater financial flexibility and materially reduce annual interest expense. Byallocating additional capital to near-mine exploration, we expanded our reserveand resource base by double-digit percentage increases, which we anticipatewill lead to high-return, long-term value for our stockholders."
For 2018, Coeur said itexpects to produce between 36.6 million and 40 million silver-equivalentounces, consisting of 12.8 million to 14.4 million ounces of silver, 355,000 to375,000 ounces of gold, and 23 million to 28 million pounds of both zinc andlead.
"2018 should be another pivotal year as we look tocommence production at Silvertip by the end of the first quarter, achievecommercial production at Jualin later in the year and sustain our focus onnear-mine exploration,” Krebs said. “We also expect to publish updatedtechnical reports for Rochester and Kensington in the coming weeks and forSilvertip in the second half of the year.”
By Allen SykoraFor Kitco News
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