Copper, moly prices gave boost to Cyprus Amax

On the strength of higher sales and lower costs, Cyprus Amax Minerals (NYSE) reported record earnings for 1995.

Excluding writedowns and special items, the company earned US$462 million (US$4.77 per share) on revenue of US$3.2 billion last year, compared with US$162 million (US$1.55 per share) on US$2.8 billion in the previous year.

The company took an after-tax charge of US$338 million in 1995 from coal assets.

Notwithstanding the writedown, earnings remained strong. In 1995, Cyprus earned US$124 million (US$1.13 per share), compared with US$175 million (US$1.69 per share) in 1994.

Prices for copper and molybdenum were higher, and coal and lithium also preformed well in 1995.

Cash costs for copper fell to 57 cents from 69 cents per lb. for the year reflecting, higher moly credits, higher solvent-extraction solution feed grades and lower conversion costs.

Earnings in the fourth quarter were a record US$96 million (98 cents per share), compared with US$67 million (68 cents per share) for the same period in 1994.

As a result of the doubling of production at the Cerro Verde mine in Peru and a 10% boost at the Miami mine, in Arizona, copper production for the year was up slightly, to 687 million lb. from 648 million lb. in 1994 Cyprus expects production to increase to 750 million lb. in 1996, and to 1 billion lb. in 1997, with initial production at the Abra project in Chile scheduled for late 1996.

Cyprus also produced 75 million lb. of moly in 1995, up from 57 million lb. in 1994.