Hecla Reports Second Quarter Results
posted on
Aug 04, 2008 07:05PM
Crystallex International Corporation is a Canadian-based gold company with a successful record of developing and operating gold mines in Venezuela and elsewhere in South America
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Hecla Reports Second Quarter Results; Increases Silver Production 60%
Monday August 4, 8:57 pm ET
For the Period Ended June 30, 2008
Unusual or one-time items that impacted Hecla’s results from operations during the second quarter of this year included:
Other items that impacted second quarter net income included a 42% decrease in the price of zinc from $1.66 per pound in the second quarter of 2007 to $0.96 in the second quarter of 2008, increased smelter treatment and refining charges, and higher energy and steel costs. These factors resulted in increased cash costs per ounce of silver at the Lucky Friday and Greens Creek silver operations compared to a year ago. Additionally, the noncash stock option expense totaled $2.9 million in the second quarter of 2008.
For the first six months of 2008, Hecla recorded a loss applicable to common shareholders of $32.3 million, or 26 cents per common share, compared to income applicable to common shareholders of $32.2 million, or 27 cents per common share, during the same period in 2007.
SECOND QUARTER 2008 HIGHLIGHTS
Hecla Mining Company President and Chief Executive Officer Phillips S. Baker, Jr., said, “The second quarter has been a transformational quarter for Hecla. We acquired the remainder of the Greens Creek Joint Venture and sold our Venezuelan interests. Both transactions had one-time impacts on the second quarter financial results as we completed the transition related to these two assets. In the long term, the Greens Creek acquisition and the Venezuelan disposition provide our shareholders with 100% of the world’s lowest-cost and fifth-largest silver mine, a substantially lower political risk profile, and a 60% increase in 2008 annual silver production to 9 million ounces. We have already seen a 60% increase in silver production for the second quarter compared to the same period a year ago.”