Polymetal CEO Vitaly Nesis
Polymetal, one of Russia’s largest gold and silver producers, has exceeded its guidance for the eighth year in a row.
The LSE-listed miner’s 2019 gold-equivalent production amounted to 1.61-million ounces. This is an increase of 3% on 2018 and is 4% above the original production guidance of 1.55-million ounces.
Polymetal said that a strong contribution from Kyzyl more than compensated for disposals against the backdrop of stable results from the rest of the portfolio. Production from continuing operations grew by 14% year-on-year to 1.61-million gold equivalent ounces (GEOs).
The fourth-quarter production was 15% below that of the same quarter in 2018, mainly owing to limited throughput at the POX plant during the three months as a result of scheduled downtime as part of the POX-2 project activities.
Full-year revenue jumped by 19% to $2.2-billion on the back of higher volumes and metal prices. Fourth-quarter revenue increased by 1% to $643-million as lower volumes were offset by increasing prices.
Polymetal’s guidance for 2020 and 2021 is to produce 1.6-million GEOs.
"Stable operating performance should ensure steady and significant dividend flow while planned progress with execution of Nezhda and POX-2 projects will enable us to resume production growth in 2022,” said CEO Vitaly Nesis.