Hochschild Mining, a precious-metals mining company, has revised its full-year production outlook following a swing to a pretax loss in the first half of the year. The company reported a pretax loss of $66.1 million for the first six months, compared to a profit of $5.4 million in the same period last year.
This negative swing in earnings can be attributed to two impairments totaling $66.9 million, which are related to losses at the Azuca and Crespo projects, as well as the San Jose mine. Additionally, the updated valuation of the company’s investment in Aclara Resources contributed to this change.
Adjusted pretax profit for the first half of the year amounted to $787,000, down from $15.3 million in the previous year. Furthermore, revenue declined from $347.8 million to $314.0 million.
Looking ahead, Hochschild Mining has adjusted its full-year production guidance for gold and silver. The new guidance ranges are 289,000-303,000 gold-equivalent ounces and 24.0 million-25.0 million silver-equivalent ounces. This represents a decrease from the previous ranges of 301,000-314,000 and 25.0 million-26.0 million, respectively.
Additionally, the company has increased its full-year guidance for all-in sustaining costs. The new ranges are $1,490-$1,580 per gold-equivalent ounce and $18.0-$19.0 per silver-equivalent ounce.
Hochschild Mining will need to navigate these challenges and make strategic adjustments to ensure a successful year ahead.