Vancouver


RTGAM



Vancouver - Goldcorp Inc. more than doubled its most recent quarterly profit compared with a year ago, boosted by the sale of its stake in Osisko Mining Corp.

The Vancouver-based gold miner said Wednesday it earned $651-million (U.S.), or 81 cents per diluted share, for the quarter ended March 31 compared with a profit of $247-million, or 29 cents per diluted share, a year ago.

Revenue totalled $1.22-billion, up from $718-million.

The company's average realized gold price for the quarter was $1,394 per ounce, up from $1,111 a year ago, while gold production totalled 637,600 ounces for the quarter, up from 600,100 in the first three months of 2010.

Excluding one-time items, including the $530-million Osisko sale, the company reported adjusted earnings from continuing operations of $397-million, or 50 cents per share.

The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 47 cents per share, according to those surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

Goldcorp has mines and exploration and development projects in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Guatemala and Argentina. The company employs more than 14,000 people.

In April, it updated a feasibility study that doubled proven and probable gold reserves at its recently acquired Cerro Negro project in Argentina to 4.3 million ounces.

The miner said it expects annual gold production of 550,000 ounces in the first five years of the mine's operation, with average cash costs of less than $200 per ounce in that period.

Over the full, 12-year mine life, based only on existing reserves, annual production is expected to average 340,000 ounces per year at cash costs of about $290 an ounce.

Total capital cost are expected to be $750-million to full production in 2013.