Eden Roc in red, but optimistic

Record gold production and higher revenues were not enough to keep Eden Roc Mineral (EDN-T) out of the red in 1997.

For the year ended Dec. 31, the Toronto-based company lost $15.4 million on revenue of $15 million, compared with losses of $5.7 million on $9.8 million in the same period of 1996. The poorer performance primarily reflects $14.3 million in costs associated with the suspension of mining activities at the company’s 68%-owned Afema gold mine in Ivory Coast (T.N.M., Jan. 5-11/98).

The mine was Eden Roc’s sole producing asset. It yielded a record 33,130 oz.

gold last year at a cash cost of US$216 per oz., compared with 20,008 oz.

gold at US$300 per oz. in 1996.

The mine’s suspension also forced Eden Roc to record as current debt a US$5-million revolving credit facility with Rothschild Australia. Though Eden Ross has agreed to refinance the debt into a US$4.56-million convertible debenture with a maturity date of Dec. 31, 1999, final documentation is still forthcoming. Consequently, the company reported a working capital deficit of $3.7 million in 1997, compared with $8.2 million in 1996. Cash flow between the two periods rose, however, to $4.1 million from $900,000.

Eden Roc is looking to continue exploring its Ivorian property and, toward that end, is seeking a joint-venture partner. Exploration, however, will be selective and mostly confined to the area already permitted for mining.