4th Apr 2019 11:17
LONDON (Alliance News) - Atalaya Mining PLC on Thursday reported a rise in 2018 profit due to higher revenue and copper production above company guidance.
For the year, pretax profit nearly doubled to EUR41.5 million from EUR21.9 million the year before, on revenue that grew by 18% to EUR189.5 million from EUR160.5 million.
Copper production from the Proyecto Riotinto open-pit mine in Spain was 42,114 tonnes, up 13% from 37,164 tonnes in 2017 and above the high-end guidance of 41,000 tonnes.
Copper concentrates sold increased to 183,368 tonnes from 158,591 tonnes, at an average realised copper price of USD2.95 per pound from USD2.66 in 2017.
The all-in sustaining cost for the year averaged USD2.26 per pound, down 1.7% from USD2.30 the year before.
As at December 31, Atalaya had 4,667 tonnes of copper concentrate in inventories, down from 7,724 tonnes the prior year, which was sold in the first quarter of 2019.
Looking ahead, Atalaya set its production guidance for 2019 within 45,000 to 46,500 tonnes of copper, with all-in sustaining costs guided in the range of USD2.25 to USD2.45 per pound.
Operationally, the 15 million tonnes per annum expansion project at Proyecto Rintinto was at 80% by the end of 2018, with efforts now being focused on site construction. Completion of the expansion is on-track for the end of the second quarter of 2019.
"Our second year of production has successfully built on our first, with incremental growth quarter on quarter. We are delighted to have delivered ahead of or in line with expectations across the majority of our core key performance indicators, which has had a positive impact on our financials and bottom line. We have achieved all this while also progressing the expansion of Riotinto, and the rate at which this programme is advancing means that we look forward to 2019 with confidence," said Chief Executive Alberto Lavandeira.
Shares in Atalaya Mining were up 3.8% at 236.20 pence on Thursday.
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