Highland Gold Mining FY pre-tax profits slump

(ShareCast News) - Full year pre-tax profits at Highland Gold Mining slumped to $13.9m (£9.67m) from $45.5m.Revenue fell to $276.1m from $304.2m as the average realised price for gold and equivalents in 2015 fell to $1,062 per oz from $1,175 a year earlier.Total cash costs reduced by 25.6% to $480 per oz and all-in sustaining cash costs lowered by 20.9% to $640 per oz.Overall production from the company's three mines in Russia - Mnogovershinnoye, Novoshirokinskoye and Belaya Goya - recorded a "modest" year-on-year increase from 258,937 oz of gold and gold equivalents in 2014 to a record 262,485 oz, albeit "less than our original expectations", the company said."Although the output of MNV, our original flagship mine, is in natural decline the old workhorse, so to speak, still accounted for some 36% of total output with a contribution of 94,558 oz of gold."