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PANAUST (PNA) brought its second mine into operation last year, bumping up sales revenue for the second half by 24 per cent, the company reported today.
Consolidated profit after income tax for the year ended December 31 was $154.72 million, up from $142.93 million the previous year.
Commencement of goldâ€silver doré sales from the Ban Houayxai Goldâ€Silver Operation boosted the sales revenue by 24 per cent to $694.84 million making it the largest contributing factor to the increase.
Ban Houayxai commenced commercial production from June and sales of gold and silver from Ban Houayxai contributed $122.75 million to revenue.
PNA managing director, Gary Stafford, says the full year profit result reflects continued strong operating performance at Phu Kham and the first contribution from Ban Houayxai.
“The successful commissioning of Ban Houayxai and the Phu Kham Upgrade were important achievements for 2012, making PanAust a more robust and flexible two-mine company and providing a broader cash flow platform for further growth,” says Stafford.
“Ban Houayxai quickly rampedâ€up to full capacity and during the December 2012 quarter mill throughput rates exceeded nominal design capacity by 12%, on treatment of relatively soft oxide ore feed.
“At Phu Kham, record production during the December quarter underscored the benefits of the process plant expansion with annualised ore processing rates exceeding the expanded design capacity of 16 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) and the plant achieving an annualised ore processing rate of 21Mtpa in December.”
PNA plans to invest $34 million in the Increased Recovery Project at Phu Kham this year, a “shot payback, high return investment”.
Directors declared a final dividend of four cents per share bringing the total dividends declared for the 2012 year to seven cents per share.
PNA shares dropped 3.56 per cent to $2.710 this morning in reaction to the news.
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