Wheaton River Q3 profits rise to $14.7M US from $949,000 as sales soar
04:42 PM EST Nov 18
VANCOUVER (CP) - Wheaton River Minerals Ltd. reported sharply higher profits for the third quarter as acquisitions helped the gold miner dramatically increase sales and production.
The Vancouver company reported Monday it earned $14.7 million US or three cents a share for the three months ended Sept. 30. That compared with profits of $949,000 US or one cents a share for the same 2002 period.
Sales rose to $63.1 million from $15.8 million, while production for the quarter increased to 126,100 gold equivalent ounces from about 47,800 ounces.
The company, whose main gold projects are in Latin America, reports in U.S. dollars.
"Over a period of fifteen months, Wheaton has successfully acquired long-life assets, producing over 500,000 gold equivalent ounces a year at cash costs of approximately $100 US per ounce," Ian Telfer, chairman and CEO, said in a release.
"This makes Wheaton one of the world's fastest growing, lowest-cost gold producers. Our recently announced acquisitions of two premier gold development projects will almost double our annual gold production within the next two years to over 900,000 gold equivalent ounces."
For the nine-month period, Wheaton River earned profits of $29.8 million on sales of $109.2 million. That was up from profits of $3 million on sales of $16.8 million, the previous year.
In breaking down third quarter operations, Wheaton River (TSX:WRM) reported:
- General and administrative expenses fell to $1.9 million from nearly $2.7 million;
- Exploration expenses fell to $496,000 from $806,000;
- The company earned a foreign exchange gain of $2.3 million, compared with a foreign exchange loss of $733,000 in 2002, which resulted primarily from a three per cent weakening of the Argentinean peso against the U.S. dollar. Wheaton River also generated a gain of $1.2 million the sale of securities. |
