TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – New York- and Toronto-listed midtier miner Eldorado Gold this week reported a net loss of $45.4-million or $0.06 a share for the first quarter ended March 31, compared with profit of $67.9-million or $0.11 a share in the same quarter of 2012, as a result of a $125.2-million adjustment related to a change in Greek tax rates.
Eldorado reported adjusted profit of $79.8-million or $0.11 a share for the period, an improvement of 17.5% when compared with $67.9-million for the same quarter in 2012. The difference in adjusted profit year-over-year was owing to a higher gross profit from gold mining operations during the quarter as well as $17.8-million in costs related to the acquisition of European Goldfields reported in the first quarter of 2012.
Analysts on average had expected adjusted earnings of $0.12 a share on revenue of $338.38-million.
The Vancouver-based company’s revenue for the period rose 24.5% to $338.1-million, compared with $271.5-million a year earlier.
Sales volumes increased by 25.6% year-over-year to 189 346 oz of gold, which was partially offset by 5% lower prices at $1 622/oz, and higher unit production costs, which had increased by $53/oz to $505/oz. Unit production costs from gold mining operations rose 8% compared with the first quarter of 2012 as Eldorado’s Chinese mines reported unit cost increases related to lower grades and gold production.
Eldorado, which owns projects in Turkey, China, Greece and Brazil, said a Greek court in April upheld its environmental permits for the Hellas gold project, in the Halkidiki region.
Some of the miner's operations in Greece have faced intense opposition from activists and locals, who had said the mines would hurt tourism, the environment and agriculture.
The company’s TSX-listed stock on Friday shed 1.70% off its value to trade at C$7.53 apiece.