Avocet triples underlying profit before tax

22nd Feb 2011 13:11

Gold miner Avocet, one of the giants of AIM, more than doubled gold production in 2010.The company banged out 236,396 ounces at a cash cost of $660 an ounce, compared to production of 109,548 ounces at $639 per ounce in 2009, while the realised gold price soared past the thousand dollar mark to $1,174 an ounce from $975 an ounce in 2009."Gold prices have been consistently strong throughout 2010, with record levels being achieved. The climate of economic uncertainty has affected western economies in particular, and has sustained demand for gold as a ... haven investment, and a protection against inflation. At the same time, jewellery demand in developing countries has been strong (particularly India), and the outlook for gold prices in 2011 remains positive," claimed company chairman Russell Edey.Underlying profit before tax more than tripled to $33.4m in 2010 from $10.4m the year before while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation jumped 189% to $86.3m from $29.9m a year earlier.The company's flagship Inata mine in Burkina Faso is "already exceeding its nameplate capacity in steady state production," said Brett Richards, in his first set of full year results as the company's chief executive officer."In Guinea, positive early stage drilling programmes in Q4 2010 mean that an airborne geophysical survey is needed over the large land package known as Tri-K, in order to prioritise drill targets over a very large area. This coming year will also see a significant drilling programme conducted on this project in Guinea, so that a comparable assessment of next stage development can be made between Burkina Faso and Guinea in Q4 2011," Richards added.