A US$3.7 million decline in royalty revenue from the Voisey’s Bay mine drove first quarter revenues for International Royalty Corporation (IRC-T, ROY-X) down to US$7.09 million, compared with US$10.28 million in the first quarter of 2008.
Revenue recognized from the Voisey’s Bay mine came in at US$5.9 million for the quarter ended Mar. 31, 2009, compared to US$9.6 million in the first quarter of 2008. Lower nickel prices were mainly to blame, but were partially offset by a rise in production of contained nickel in concentrate, International Royalty reported.
Total contained nickel in concentrates paid on the Voisey’s Bay mine during the quarter was about 53.3 million lbs compared with about 38
million lbs. for the year-ago quarter.
International Royalty’s net earnings during the quarter increased US$900,000 to US$3.3 million, or US$0.04 per share, compared to US$2.4 million, or US$0.03 per share for the same period in 2008.
Cash flow provided by operations was US$4.7 million during the quarter compared to US$6.4 million in the same quarter in 2008.
At the end of the quarter, International Royalty acquired a 2.5% net smelter return royalty on Nord Resources Corp.’s producing Johnson Camp copper mine in Arizona.
Nord started mining new copper ore at the Johnson Camp mine in February and believes it can ramp up to an average annual production rate of 25 million lbs of copper by this spring. The mine is projected to have a lifespan of 16 years based upon current proven and probable reserves of 66.6 million tonnes grading 0.335% copper for total contained copper of 492 million lbs.
In Toronto International Royalty closed at $3.23 per share. The company has a 52-week trading range of $1.30-$6.05 per share and 78.48 million shares outstanding.
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