Ivanhoe’s Kipushi zinc mine in the DRC officially reopens
The restart marked exactly a century since the mine first went into production.
Following impairment charges of $772.8 million in the fourth quarter, IAMGOLD has posted a net loss of $860 million for the year, compared with earnings of $371 million in 2012.
The impairment charges are largely the result of lower short-term and long-term gold price assumptions related to the company’s Suriname, Essakane and the Doyon operations.
Adjusted net earnings attributable to shareholders came in at $19.7 million for the fourth quarter and $137.3 million for 2013, compared with $89.8 million and $315.6 million in 2012 respectively.
The company has plans to reduce its capital spending by 40% this year and suspended dividend payments in December in order to conserve cash.
In a separate statement IAMGOLD announced that its mineral reserves had decreased by 11% to 10.1 million ounces at the end of 2013, due to “parameter changes reflecting higher costs associated to hard rock mining” and a change in gold price assumptions.
“Total attributable measured and indicated gold resources (inclusive of reserves) increased by 4% or 0.8 million ounces at 23.4 million ounces of gold at the end of 2013,” IAMGOLD wrote.
The company assumed a gold price of $1,400 per ounce in its reserves estimates and $1,500 in its resources estimates. This figure is higher than what most other gold producers and analysts are forecasting.
Last month the company’s share price dropped 10.7% after it announced production below the bottom end of guidance in 2013.
On Tuesday, IAMGOLD’s share price lost 2.61% to trade at $4.47 per share. This time last year the miner was trading at around $8 per share.
