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LONDON (Alliance News) - Brazil-focused gold miner Serabi Gold PLC saw its shares rise early Tuesday after its 2014 pretax loss narrowed as it produced its first revenue and said it expects to see cost benefits in 2015 from the depreciation of the Brazilian real.
Serabi said its pretax loss for the year was USD174,701, compared with a USD6.3 million in 2013. The narrowed loss was primarily down to the company generating its first revenue of USD12.6 million, having started commercial production at the Palito mine in July.
The company produced a total of 13,334 ounces of gold from Palito in the year, all in the second half, with 5,515 ounces produced in the third quarter and 7,819 ounces produced in the fourth quarter. The average gold price achieved for the year was USD1,230 per ounce.
Serabi said production in the first couple of months of 2015 has been in line with 2014 levels and said it expects costs to come down further this year on the back of the depreciation of the Brazilian real.
It is currently forecasting combined gold production from Palito and Sao Chico of around 35,000 ounces for 2015. It started a surface drilling programme at Sao Chico in March.
"I am very proud of our achievements over the past 15 months and the huge progress that has been made. To summarise, 2014 saw Palito mine and plant enter commercial production and the final quarter of 2014 saw our gold production from Palito consistently achieving planned rates, and I am pleased to say that that has continued through the first quarter of 2015, and should continue for the
remainder of this year," said Serabi Chief Executive Mike Hodgson.
Serabi shares were up 10% to 4.95 pence on Tuesday, one of the best performers in the AIM All-Share index in early trade.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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