Hochschild Mining (HOC) beat production forecasts in the last quarter of 2019 to make the most of the high gold price.
The precious metal miner produced 16.8m ounces (oz) of silver and 269,892oz of gold last year, or 38.7m oz silver equivalent.
The total ounces were down on last year, but the company closed the costly Arcata mine early in 2019. The company beat RBC forecasts for net debt and production in the December quarter and full year, by 16 per cent and 3 per cent respectively.
Hochschild did not release the overall all-in sustaining costs (AISC) for the year, but said it would likely be within guidance of $11.8-12.30 per oz silver equivalent or $960-1,000 per oz gold equivalent. This will climb next year as the company spends $22m on expanding the tailings storage at Inmaculada.
Despite the strong gold price, the miner has seen its share price fall by more than a fifth in the past six months. RBC analyst James Bell said a delay to exploration permitting at the Pallancata project had been a “concern” for the market, but this had been handed over by the government.
Hochschild reiterated its 2020 guidance of 422,000 oz gold equivalent or 36m oz silver equivalent.
