A drop in the prices of gold, silver, lead and zinc helped push Hecla Mining (NYSE) into a US$2.7-million loss for the first quarter of 1991.
This compares with earnings of US$4.6 million in the year-earlier period which included an extraordinary gain of US$2 million.
The price of gold dropped to US$370 in the recent quarter from an average of US$407, while the price of silver showed an even poorer performance, falling to US$3.91 per oz. from the year-earlier level of US$5.19. Lead dropped to 27 US cents from 39 US cents with zinc following suit, slipping to 54 US cents from an average of 66 US cents in the first quarter of 1990.
Gold production during the quarter totalled 27,017 oz. while silver production was 1.2 million oz. This compares with production of 27,597 oz. gold and 1.6 million oz. silver in the first quarter of 1990.
On a segmented basis, gold operations reported a gross operating profit of US$3.9 million while silver operations tallied an operating loss of US$2.8 million. The company’s industrial minerals division had an operating profit of US$1.3 million. Hecla Mining (NYSE)* 3 months ended Mar. 31 1991 1990 Revenue $25,728 $34,014 Net earnings (loss) (2,735) 4,599
per share (0.10) 0.17
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