Serabi Gold turns in solid third quarter performance

Brazil-focussed gold mining and development company Serabi Gold reported EBITDA of $4.6m (£3.59m) in its third quarter results on Monday, swinging from the small loss it made at the same time last year.

The AIM-traded firm said its EBITDA for the year-to-date was $12.1m, which was up 120% on the same period in 2018, while its profit before tax for the nine months ended 30 September totalled $3.8m, with earnings per share standing at 4.84 cents.

Cash holdings at the end of September were $13.4m, which was an increase of $4.2m since the end of 2018.

Serabi Gold said its all-in sustaining cost for the year-to-date was $1,078 per ounce, with a cash cost of$844 per ounce.

Operational cash inflow for the third quarter of was $5.1m, or $3.7m after mine development costs, which compared with a net operational outflow of $1.2m, or $2.2m after mine development costs, for the same period in 2018.

The company said its operational cash flow for the year-to -date totalled$14.5m, or $11.7m after mine development costs, compared with $3.2m, or $0.3m after mine development costs, for the same period in 2018.

On the operational front, third quarter gold production was 10,187 ounces, resulting in total production for the year to date of approximately 30,000 ounces, which was an 11% improvement over the same period in 2018.

Total ore mined for the quarter was 44,757 tonnes at a grade of 7.14 grams of gold per tonne, with the firm reporting 45,378 tonnes of run of mine ore being processed through the plant from the combined Palito and Sao Chico orebodies, with an average grade of 6.84 grams of gold per tonne.

A total of 2,433 metres of horizontal development was completed during the quarter.

Serabi Gold said it anticipated full-year production for 2019 would be between 40,000 and 41,000 ounces, while it also noted the completion of its preliminary economic assessment on the Coringa Gold Project in September, demonstrating “strong” positive economics.

“This third quarter has again been very pleasing in terms of both operational and financial performance,” said chief executive officer Mike Hodgson.

“As we reported in our third quarter operational update on 14 October, we achieved the highest quarterly production level for 2019 which was only 70 ounces short of being our best quarter ever.

“This production combined with the improved gold price has resulted in an EBITDA for the year to date of $12.1m of which 38% is attributable to this third quarter.”

Hodgson said he remained “very excited” by both the near and long term outlook for Serabi.

“Our exploration potential around the existing operations is very exciting and will, I am sure, yield opportunities for further production growth to enhance the improvements that our ore-sorter and the development of the Coringa project will bring.

“By maintaining a focus of near mine site potential, we should be able to develop any further growth at relatively low cost.”

At 1144 GMT, shares in Serabi Gold were up 3.8% at 82p.