By Frik Els
Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS, TSX:PAA) swung to a fourth-quarter loss despite rising sales and production after the Canadian firm was forced to write down $100 million on assets in Argentina.
The company swung into $29 million loss compared to $95 million profit the year before because of the charge against the Navidad project in Argentina which it has placed on care and maintenance.
The Vancouver, BC-based company’s silver production rose 29% to 6.9 million ounces while gold production rose a massive 88% to 32,400 ounces.
Revenue at the company – which mines silver and gold in Mexico and South America – rose 16% to $247 million
In 2012 Pan American Silver acquired Minefinders Corp for $1.5 billion whose primary asset is the Dolores mine in northern Mexico, but in this set of results it had to reduce the reserve estimates at the mine.
Dolores now holds 76 million ounces of silver and 1.6 million ounces of gold.
Pan American Silver was trading up 6% in Toronto in afternoon dealings – the company also announced a 150% increase in its cash dividend payout to $0.50 on an annual basis.
Stock in the $2.6 billion company is still down almost 10% year to date.
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Source: Mining.com- Gold News