Silver Wheaton reports record financial and operating results for 2009
finance.yahoo.com
"2009 was a transformational year for Silver Wheaton," said Peter Barnes, Chief Executive Officer of Silver Wheaton. "With the completion of some of our best acquisitions to date, we successfully raised our industry-leading production growth profile to a new level and laid the groundwork for continued strong organic growth long into the future. Our production of 17.4 million silver equivalent ounces was a record for the Company and represented a 46% increase from the prior year. Additionally, we closed the year with our second consecutive record-setting quarter, leading to record annual sales, earnings and cash flows. As the year progressed, Silver Wheaton clearly solidified its leadership position as the largest and fastest growing of all metals streaming and royalty companies in the world."
"This year promises to be equally exciting with Penasquito, our cornerstone growth asset for the next several years, starting to significantly ramp-up silver production.
Furthermore, as a result of the Barrick and Silverstone acquisitions which closed part way through 2009, our shareholders are now poised to benefit from a full year of production from six high-quality mines. Within our existing silver stream portfolio, we are forecasting silver equivalent production of 23.5 million ounces in 2010, more than a 35% increase compared to 2009."
"Already, we have continued on our path of accretive growth with the addition of two new silver streams in early 2010. We acquired an amount equal to 100% of the life of mine silver and gold production from the Rosemont project in Arizona, and converted a debenture allowing us to acquire an amount equal to 12.5% of the life of mine silver production from a portion of the Navidad project in Argentina. These are both very high-quality assets and the Navidad transaction now gives us a stake in three of the top five silver deposits in the world. With cash on hand of over US$227 million at the end of 2009, a fully undrawn US$400 million revolving credit facility and strong cash flows from operations, we are exceptionally well-positioned to pursue additional accretive acquisitions." |
