Better operating results and poorer metal prices combined to keep Inmet Mining‘s (IMN-T) second-quarter earnings roughly the same as in 2000. For the three months ended June 30, the copper and gold producer earned $1.6 million (2 per share) on revenues of $28.7 million.
Earnings in the second quarter of 2000 were $1.7 million. They were made on revenues of $24.6 million.
Production at the copper-zinc mine at Cayeli in Turkey returned to normal in the quarter, having been shut down by a strike between December 2000 and March of this year. Improved copper recoveries and slightly higher head grades brought Cayeli’s copper production to 10,700 tonnes, up from 9,400 in the comparable period last year. Zinc production fell slightly to 8,000 tonnes, owing to lower head grades.
Gold grades at the Troilus mine in north-central Quebec were significantly higher than in the previous year. The operation produced 37,700 oz. gold in the quarter, up from 27,200 oz. in the corresponding period last year. Trolls has produced 72,700 oz. gold so far in 2001 and its cash operating cost has fallen to US$242 per oz. from US$256 in the first half of 2000.
Inmet also received an $8-million dividend from its 18% interest in the Ok Tedi copper-gold mine in Papua New Guinea. Dividends from Ok Tedi are no longer being counted in Inmet’s earnings. They are treated as a return of capital.
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