A strong gold output to start 2024 has boosted Hochschild Mining’s full-year production forecasts, as its investors hope for a dividend return this year.
The London-listed precious-metals miner said today that yellow metal production hit 53.7 thousand ounces (koz) through the first three months of the year, up from 46.4 koz across the same period the previous year.
The firm’s silver production dipped slightly to 1.98m ounces (moz) in the same time period against 2m in 2023.
Total mining between January and the end of March was 782,000 tonnes (kt) of which 217kt was ore and 565kt of waste.
Looking ahead, the FTSE 250-listed miner said it expects to complete five remaining drill holes – approximately 2,500m of drilling – before commencing 11,000m of resource drilling in the Tesoro and Nicolas veins.
The group also re-confirmed its full-year production targets of 343,000 to 360,000 gold-equivalent ounces and an all-in sustaining cost of between $1,510 and $1,550 per gold-equivalent ounce.
Eduardo Landin, chief executive officer said: “We have delivered a good start to 2024 with production and costs at Inmaculada and San Jose on track to meet guidance for the year.
“The Mara Rosa mine started operations during the quarter, on time and on budget, and we are currently completing the final phase of the ramp-up process with the start of commercial production expected very soon.
Hochschild’s balance sheet remains strong and, with rising precious metal prices and full production in Brazil, we expect to generate robust free cashflow during the remainder of the year.”
Last month, the company said it would be ‘inappropriate’ to restore the final dividend given its debt levels, adding that it will ‘reassess the potential for capital return at the interim results in August’.
The South America-focused precious metals digger reported a 10 per cent rise in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to $274.4 million (£220m) for the 2023 financial year.