Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
New Gold (TSX: NGD, NYSE: NGD) reported on Wednesday an adjusted loss for Q1 of $18 million or $0.03 per share, which was impacted by a temporary closure of the Rainy River mine in Ontario.
In the same period of 2019, New Gold’s adjusted loss was $2 million, or zero cents per share.
Net loss from operations for the quarter was $28 million, or $0.04 per share. Revenues for the three-month period were $142 million.
As of March 31, the company had available liquidity of approximately $600 million, including approximately $400 million in cash and cash equivalents.
New Gold also announced total production for the first quarter of 103,435 gold equivalent ounces, compared to 123,263 ounces in Q1 2019.
The company withdrew its guidance for 2020 on April 15 due to the impacts of the covid-19 virus. The Rainy River mine completed a temporary two-week shutdown from March 20 to April 2.
For the first quarter, the mine reported gold equivalent production of 51,106 ounces (50,381 ounces of gold and 61,265 ounces of silver). To date, it is averaging approximately 100,000 tonnes per day, approximately 70% of the productivity achieved prior to the shutdown.
The New Afton mine to the west of Kamloops, B.C., produced 52,329 gold equivalent ounces for the quarter (16,409 ounces of gold and 18.5 million pounds of copper).
Midday Wednesday, New Gold’s stock was down 6% on the NYSE. The company has a $550 million market capitalization.
