TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – It might have fallen out of investors’ favour earlier this year after announcing a big asset impairment, but Kinross has heeded their call to boost dividends, granting shareholders a one-third dividend increase to $0.08 a share.

The company made a $2.8-billion loss in the quarter ended December, as a result of the $2.9-billion impairment hit it decided to take, mainly at its Tasiast operation in Mauritania that it bought in the controversial Redback deal in 2010.

The company had in January warned it would write down some of the $4.6-billion in goodwill it had on its books for Tasiast.

Excluding the loss from the impairment it took, Toronto-based Kinross reported a 24% increase in earnings to $196.6-million for the December quarter, as higher gold prices offset a 5% slip in production to 643 288 gold equivalent ounces.

Adjusted per-share earnings for the quarter were $0.17, compared with the average analyst estimate of $2.10 a share.

For the full year, the company produced 2.6-million gold equivalent ounces, in line with guidance, and a 12% increase on the number for 2010.

Kinross CEO Tye Burt said the company was making good progress with the capital and project optimization process it embarked on in January.

“Recognising today's challenging cost environment, we are taking a conservative approach to project development and capital allocation, and are prioritizing our projects based on investment returns and long-term value creation, not just top-line production growth,” he said in a statement.

The company said it ended the year with $2.9-billion in cash and undrawn bank lines.

Kinross' shares fell 0.5% in after-hour trading on the Nasdaq, to trade at $10.26 by 17:29. The company is also quoted on the TSX.

The Tasiast operation accounted for 85% of the total impairment Kinross took.

Production costs for the quarter rose around 16% to $636 per gold equivalent ounce, as labour, diesel and power costs all rose in price.

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