Bisha, Eritrea.
Photo by: Nevsun Resources
TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – TSX- and NYSE-listed Nevsun Resources, which is focused on extracting copper from its 60%-owned high-grade Bisha copper mine, in Eritrea, this week reported rising first-quarter profit as copper output ramped up.
The Vancouver-based miner late on Tuesday reported net income of $15.4-million, or $0.08 a share, for the three months ended March 31, compared with a loss of $4.2-million, or $0.03 a share, in the fourth quarter last year.
Revenue rose 39% to $99.1-million, as copper sales climbed 11% sequentially to 34-million pounds, offsetting a lower realised price of $3.01/lb, compared with $3.20/lb booked in the fourth quarter.
Red-metal output during the quarter totalled 39.7-million pounds, a 10% increase over last quarter, when the mine produced 36-million pounds.
Mine-site operating, general and administrative costs, freight, treatment and refining charges totalled $0.98 per payable pound of copper sold, which ranked among the lowest in the industry.
The mine produced low-cost gold/silver doré until mid-2013 when, through a $110-million copper expansion, throughput expanded to 2.4-million tonnes a year and the product switched to copper in concentrate. Later in the mine life, flotation capacity will be expanded again to also produce zinc concentrates.
As at the end of the period, the miner had $338-million cash in the bank and working capital of about $462-million, both figures improved over the previous quarter.
Nevsun said that it was poised to accelerate production during the current quarter and restated its 2014 production guidance of 180-million to 200-million pounds of copper in concentrate.