19th Jul 2016 12:21
LONDON (Alliance News) - ASA Resource Group PLC on Tuesday said it swung to a loss in its recent financial year as revenue was dragged lower by weaker selling prices for gold and nickel.
ASA, formerly known at Mwana Africa, said its pretax loss for the year to the end of March was USD5.2 million, swung from a USD14.9 million profit made a year prior. Revenue in the year slumped to USD121.3 million from USD152.3 million, driven by a 38% fall in nickel prices and 8.0% decline in gold prices.
At the Freda Rebecca gold mine in Zimbabwe, gold sales grew to 67,672 ounces for the year from 57,799 the year prior. But the average realised price for that gold was USD1,149 per ounce, down from USD1,247 per ounce the year earlier.
At the Bindura nickel project, also in Zimbabwe, nickel in concentrate sales fell to 6,613 tonnes from 7,352 tonnes, while the average realised price for the nickel slumped to USD6,737 per tonne from USD10,855 the year before.
Meanwhile, diamond sales from the Klipspringer mine in South Africa hit USD1.2 million for 100,409 carats, down from USD1.4 million for 95,062 carats the year before.
"The company is emerging from one of its most challenging periods in better shape than one might expect. From this perspective, the financial performance the company is reporting on today doesn't truly reflect the initiatives and progress being undertaken across the group," said Yat Hoi Ning, ASA's executive chairman.
ASA shares were up 3.2% to 0.80 pence Tuesday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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