JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – TSX- and NYSE-listed Nevsun Resources posted earnings a share of $0.47 for the 2014 financial year, a rise on the $0.06 reported in the prior period.
As the Vancouver-based mining company reported a substantial rise in revenue from $155-million in the 2013 financial year to $555-million in the year under review, a 14% rise in dividend to $0.16 a share was announced by CEO Cliff Davis on Friday.
Nevsun’s cash from operating activities during the 2014 financial year increased to $217-million, from $15.6-million in 2013, while working capital for the year reached $520-million.
“With $442-million, or $2.24 a share, in the bank at December 31, 2014, we are well positioned to fund external growth opportunities,” he noted.
The group was also pleased with the operating performance of its 60%-owned Bisha mine, in Eritrea, during the year, as it produced – at a cash cost of $1.05/lb – 196-million pounds of copper, reaching the upper end of its 180-million- to 200-million-pound guidance for the year.
In the year under review, Nevsun also executed a successful 27 300 m exploration programme, while progressing its zinc plant expansion.
“With a solid year of operating experience in copper under our belts, we are poised for a strong 2015. We were very pleased to see higher mining and milling rates during the fourth quarter of 2014, which give assurance that throughput rates can increase when feed grades gradually decline,” Davis commented.