TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Copper and gold producer Thompson Creek Metals has reported a wider net loss for the three months ended September, which was mainly impacted by unrealised noncash foreign exchange losses on intercompany notes.
For the three months ended September 30, the miner reported a net loss of $60.9-million, or $0.28 a diluted share, compared with a net loss of $11.1-million, or $0.05 a diluted share, for the third quarter of 2014.
Excluding special items on the balance sheet, the adjusted net loss was $5-million, or $0.02 a diluted share – on par with analyst forecasts, compared with adjusted net income of $38.3-million, or $0.17 a share, in the third quarter of 2014.
Consolidated revenues for the period fell 38% to $141.7-million, compared with $229.3-million in the third quarter of 2014.
Copper and gold sales contributed $113-million in revenue in the quarter, compared with $100.7-million in the third quarter of 2014.
During the third quarter, the company had completed five shipments of copper and gold concentrate from Mount Milligan, in British Columbia, and recorded five sales, compared with only three shipments and three sales in the comparable quarter of 2014.
Payable output at the Mount Milligan mine was 16.4-million pounds of copper and 53 791 oz of gold, compared with payable output of 16.3-million pounds of copper and 60 366 oz of gold in the third quarter of 2014.
Copper and gold sales rose significantly to 24.4-million pounds of copper and 75 451 oz of gold during the period under review, as the Mount Milligan mine ramped up to full production. The average realised copper price fell 30% year-on-year to $2.09/lb and the average realised gold price fell 3% year-on-year to $926/oz.
The company had lowered its 2015 unit cash cost guidance on a by-product basis from the previous estimates of $0.70/lb to $0.90/lb, to $0.55/lb and $0.75/lb of copper.
Thompson Creek also lowered the top-end of its copper guidance to between 70 000 lb and 80 000 lb, while it lifted the lower-end of its full-year gold guidance to between 210 000 oz and 220 000 oz of gold.
Meanwhile, molybdenum sales were $23-million, compared with $124.3-million a year earlier, as the Endako mine, in British Columbia, and the Thompson Creek mine, in Idaho, remained on care and maintenance pending higher molybdenum prices.
Thompson Creek had completed significant maintenance at the Langeloth metallurgical facility on time and within budget in the quarter under review. The scheduled maintenance, which occurred every few years, allowed the company to continue providing tolling services and upgrading purchased molybdenum concentrates for sale in the metallurgical and chemical markets.
Thompson Creek sold molybdenum from inventory produced at the mines in 2014 and molybdenum sourced from third parties.
Sales for the September quarter reached 2.9-million pounds at an average realised price of $7.86/lb, compared with an average realised price of $13.94/lb for the third quarter of 2014.
In 2015, the molybdenum business was expected to generate positive cash flow before capital expenditure of about $21-million to $23-million, net of care-and-maintenance costs, at the Thompson Creek and Endako molybdenum mines, enabling the company to maintain the optionality of its molybdenum business.
Thompson Creek also advised that it had engaged Moelis & Company and BMO Capital Markets to assist the board in evaluating strategic and financial alternatives, including debt refinancing and restructuring, new capital transactions and asset sales.