Mineros SA 2018 results March 2019
Socially Responsible Gold Miner Mineros SA Sees 2018 Profits Jump 33% Year-on-Year
Medellin-based multinational gold mining giant Mineros SA announced March 13, 2019 that its full-year 2018 net income rose 33% year-on-year to COP$156 billion (US$50 million), from COP$117 billion (US$37 million) in 2017.
Gross revenues and gold prices also rose a bit more than 1% year-on-year. But earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) dipped 8.7%, to COP$260 billion (US$83 million), while EBITDA margin declined 9.7%, to 32.4%, according to the company.
The mainly alluvial-based gold mining operations in Colombia produced 97,921 ounces of gold-equivalent in 2018, down from 103,370 ounces in 2017, according to the company. Nicaragua gold production rose from 104,681 ounces in 2017 to 109,305 ounces in 2018.
As for fourth quarter (4Q) 2018, net income nearly tripled year-on-year, to COP$97 billion (US$31 million), thanks to a 15% hike in output, a favorable COP/U.S. dollar exchange rate and a 1.3% hike in world gold prices.
On a related front, the US$30 million acquisition of the Gualcamayo gold mining operation in Argentina last December netted Mineros an additional 2,791 ounces of gold, on top of its Nicaragua and Colombia production, the company added.
As for the 2019 outlook, Mineros projects that corporate-wide production should be in the range of 280,000 to 300,000 ounces of gold-equivalent. The company added that it foresees “high volatility” in world gold prices but an “upward tendency.”
USAID, Mineros Continue Boosting Social Projects
On another front, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Colombian national government and Mineros this month will launch yet another project aiming to help poorer rural families in El Bagre, Nechi and Zaragoza (all in Antioquia) through a new “Women of Gold” (Mujeres de Oro) program.
According to USAID, the “Mujeres de Oro” program will help rural women with projects that boost their economic, social and cultural well-being.
Mineros has a long history of sponsoring numerous projects that benefit poorer rural families in its areas of operations (see Medellin Herald 09/21/2016, “USAID Projects Boost Ecological Mining, Honey Incomes for Antioquia Families”).
In addition, Mineros years ago banned the use of toxic mercury — in sharp contrast to criminal and informal gold-mining operators.
What’s more, Mineros routinely restores any lands disturbed by its mining through various reforestation and wildlife conservation projects – unlike the criminal mining groups tied to guerrillas and “paramilitary” organizations that devastate tropical forests and wreck riverside habitats (see Medellin Herald 03/21/2017, “Mineros SA Boosting Environmental, Social Projects”).
