Artemis Gold’s Blackwater mine at final commissioning stage
Artemis now expects to feed first ore to the ball mill in the next few weeks and continues to target first gold pour before year end.
Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corp. (TSX:LIF.UN) traded lower Thursday after the company reported yesterday a drop in its full-year earnings as iron ore sales slipped.
The company’s stapled units were down $1.07 or about three per cent at $34.18 in trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Labrador Iron Ore reported late Wednesday a profit of $174.4 million or $2.80 per unit for 2011, down from $199.2 million or $3.11 per unit in 2010.
Revenue totalled $162.5 million, up from $164.4 million, while the company also added another $124 million in equity earnings from its stake in Iron Ore Company of Canada, down from $129.4 million in 2010.
Labrador Iron Ore controls a 15.1% equity stake in IOC and through its wholly owned subsidiary, Hollinger-Hanna Ltd., and receives a royalty and commission on all iron ore produced, sold and shipped by IOC.
Iron ore sales of IOC were 13.2 million tonnes, down from 15.1 million tonnes in 2010 as they were constrained by lower than expected concentrate production due to equipment problems and weather related operating issues in the winter months.
In its outlook, the company said that the consensus forecasts for iron ore markets in 2012 expect that prices will remain near current levels for the first half of the year with higher levels expected in the second half.
IOC expects to be able to substantially increase production during the year as it commissions a new expansion and expects to be able to sell all the iron ore it can produce.
