Coeur Posts Record 4Q, Full-Year Silver-Equivalent Output
(Kitco News) - Coeur Mining, Inc. (NYSE: CDE) posted record silver-equivalent production in thefourth quarter and full-year 2017, the company announced Monday.
The company said fourth-quarteroutput hit a record of 11.7 million silver-equivalent ounces, which was aquarter-on-quarter gain of 23% and year-on-year gain of 17%. This consisted of4.5 million ounces of silver and 119,114 ounces of gold, both higher from theprevious quarter and the year-ago period.
Full-year 2017silver-equivalent production also was the highest in the company's history at39.4 million ounces, up 9% from 2016. Full-year silver production was 16.4million ounces, 11% higher than in 2016 and near the top of the company'sguidance of 15.3 million to 16.6 million ounces. Full-year gold production was383,444 ounces, 7% higher than in 2016 and in-line with guidance of 367,000 to392,000 ounces.
Coeur said productiongrowth was driven primarily by the Palmarejo mine in Mexico, where 2017silver-equivalent production increased 64% from 2016. The company said silverand gold grades rose in the fourth quarter, although they will graduallydecrease in the first quarter due to mine sequencing.
For 2018, Coeur said itexpects to produce between 36.6 million and 40 million silver-equivalentounces, consisting of 12.8 million to 14.4 million ounces of silver, 355,000 to375,000 ounces of gold, and 23 million to 28 million pounds of both zinc andlead.
Coeur said it will listthe San Bartolom?(C) Mine under discontinued operations when the company reports itsnext financial results on Feb. 7. The mine, which has been sold, produced 4.3million ounces of silver in 2017.
However, Coeur said itwill restart production at Silvertip in British Columbia, projectingsilver-equivalent output of roughly 4 million to 5 million ounces. This is themine that accounts for the company's projected zinc and lead output.
By Allen SykoraFor Kitco News
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