Primero eyes more production, lower costs in 2015

Primero Mining (TSX: P; NYSE: PPP) forecasts better prospects in 2015, following a troublesome 2014, where it recorded an 89% drop in adjusted profit, despite meeting its full year production guidance.

The headline loss for 2014 was US$224.4 million, or US$1.48 per share, including US$209 million in impairment charges. Those charges include the previously announced US$99 million goodwill write-down related to the Brigus Gold transaction last March, plus fourth quarter write-downs of US$75 million for the Black Fox gold mine in Ontario, and US$35 million for the currently on-hold Cerro del Gallo project in Mexico.

Excluding those charges, adjusted earnings were US$5.4 million, or US4¢ per share, down 89% from the US36¢ per share earned in 2013.

“While the write-down of Cerro del Gallo should not come as a surprise to investors given the project was deferred [in 2014], the impairment of the Black Fox asset may be viewed as a modest negative,” CIBC analyst Jeff Killeen notes.

Read the complete article at NorthernMiner.com/news/primero