VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Miner Goldcorp has reported a better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit, as substantially lower costs at its gold mines in the Americas and a higher gold price offset lower output, the company said on Wednesday.
The Vancouver-based company reported net earnings of $101-million, or $0.12 a share, for the quarter ended December 31, compared with a net loss of $4.3-billion, or $5.14 a share, in the comparable period a year earlier, when it booked a massive $3.9-billion impairment charge.
Goldcorp beat the average analyst forecast for earnings of $0.09 a share.
"In 2016, we undertook a significant restructuring to substantially grow the net asset value per share of our company by decentralising the business to drive accountability down to the mine sites, significantly reducing operating costs, selling noncore assets and reinvesting that capital into a robust internal pipeline and a new geologically prospective mining camp in the Yukon,” president and CEO David Garofalo stated.
All-in sustaining costs (AISC) fell to $747/oz in the period, from $977/oz a year earlier, with full-year 2016 AISC falling to $856/oz, down from $894/oz in 2015.
Goldcorp produced 761 000 oz of gold in the fourth quarter, down 16% over the comparable period of 2015, with full-year 2016 output dropping 17% year-on-year to 2.87-million ounces.
For 2017, Goldcorp expects to produce 2.5-million ounces of gold at an AISC of $850/oz. The company has outlined a prodigious five-year growth profile that will see it raise output by 20% to three-million ounces, lift gold reserves by 20% to 50-million ounces and reduce AISC by 20% to $700/oz.