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Gold/Mining/Energy : Mining News of Note -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LoneClone who wrote (41918)	8/20/2009 8:50:26 PM
From: LoneClone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 194738

Hochschild sees further upside to silver prices The Latin American miner produced estimate-beating first half results and remains upbeat for the future Author: Julie Crust (Reuters) Posted: Wednesday , 19 Aug 2009 LONDON, (Reuters) - mineweb.net Latin American precious metal producer Hochschild Mining's (HOCM.L) first-half result beat estimates and it remained positive on silver prices and demand, sending its shares up on Wednesday. "Despite current market volatility, we remain positive about the fundamentals for precious metals and with our ongoing focus on costs and cash generation we look to the future with confidence," said Chief Executive Miguel Aramburu. Shares in Hochschild were up 3% to 273.9 pence after touching a high at 279 pence, outperforming a 0.9 percent rise in the UK mining index . Fresnillo Plc (FRES.L), the world's largest primary silver producer, remained positive about the metal on Monday because of its dual role for use in industrial applications and as an investment vehicle and inflation hedge. Aramburu expects silver prices to remain around $13-15 an ounce for the remainder of the year, he said in an interview with Reuters. Higher output and cost controls offset lower metal prices, resulting in first-half earnings per share, before exceptional items, of $0.06 compared with $0.04 expected by four analysts polled by the London-listed company. Hochschild, which has five operating mines in Peru, Mexico and Argentina, said it was on track to meet its 2009 production target of 28 million attributable silver equivalent ounces, after first-half output of 13.91 million ounces. Liberum Capital called the results from the FTSE 250 company solid and said they showed good operational and corporate cost control. Unit costs per tonne fell 10 percent and administrative expenses dropped 34 percent. Unit costs for the full year are expected to decline about 5% from the year earlier helped by lower input costs and an increase in production, Chief Financial Officer Ignacio Rosado told Reuters. (Additional reporting by Ben Deighton; Editing by Lorraine Turner and Gilbert Kreijger)