Hochschild Mining FY revenues drop as gold and silver production falls

Silver and gold miner Hochschild Mining said on Thursday both revenue and profits had fallen in 2022 as a result of a drop in gold and silver production.

Hochschild said revenues had dropped 9.3% to $735.6m, while adjusted underlying earnings fell 34.7% to $249.6m and pre-tax profits contracted 83.6% to $24.3m. Basic earnings per share tumbled from $0.14 to just $0.01.

The weakened financial performance comes as attributable silver production fell 10% to 11.0m ounces and attributable gold production slumped 7% to 206,000 ounces as the "volatile political, economic and social situation" in Peru resulted in 'a tough operating environment" for Hochschild's two mines in the country.

Looking ahead, Hochschild said it was targeting 301,000 to 314,0000 gold equivalent ounces in 2023, as well as 25.0m to 26.0m silver equivalent ounces, using an 83.0x gold-silver ratio. 29,250 ounces of gold was hedged for the remainder of 2023 at a price of $2,047 per ounce.

As of 0830 BST, Hochschild shares were down 3.16% at 87.30p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com