Belmoral ahead on year despite poor quarter

A loss during the second quarter of $656,000 has been reported by Toronto-based Belmoral Mines. The company’s net income for the first six months of 1987, however, stands at $349,000, thanks to a strong first- quarter performance. The loss during the second quarter of this year compares with a loss of almost $1.4 million for the same period in 1986. The company blames the 1987 quarterly loss on lower than planned grades and says that its Val d’Or-area mines have been delayed in bringing the newly discovered ore zones into production, a problem the company says should be corrected during the second half of the year.

The 6-month gain in net income this year compares to a loss of approximately $1.5 million for the same period in 1986. The company reports figures for 1986 have been restated to reflect adjustments to amortization of development and exploration costs and the method of accounting for the issuance of flow-through shares.

The company is basing its figures on the weighted average number of shares outstanding: 28,567,270 shares in 1987 and 24,889,418 shares in 1986. As of June 30, Belmoral had 32,122,805 shares issued and outstanding.

Earnings during the first six months of this year were $1.8 million higher than for the same period in 1986, an increase the company attributes to higher production and realized gold prices which were offset somewhat by increased costs. Sales of gold increased by 2,506 oz (compared with the first half of 1986) to 24,214 oz.

Belmoral is sticking with its estimated production of 72,000 oz gold for 1987.