Business
First Quantum Minerals Reports Second Quarter 2023 Results
(In United States dollars, except where noted otherwise) TORONTO, July 25, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (“First Quantum” or “the
About this update from First Quantum Minerals Ltd.
[{"type":"text","content":" (In United States dollars, except where noted otherwise) TORONTO, July 25, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (“First Quantum” or “the Company”) (TSX: FM) today reports results for the three months ended June 30, 2023 (“Q2 2023” or the \"second quarter\") of net earnings attributable to shareholders of the Company of $93 million ($0.13 earnings per share) and adjusted earnings1 of $85 million ($0.12 adjusted earnings per share2). “After a challenging start to the year, it is pleasing to see the improvements at our three largest operations. During the second quarter, Sentinel achieved its highest monthly production for the year in May and Cobre Panamá and Kansanshi achieved the same records in June. We remain well on track for a stronger performance in the second half of the year. Our brownfield projects achieved important milestones during the quarter with the Enterprise project producing first nickel concentrate and both Enterprise and the CP100 Expansion periodically demonstrating nameplate capacity,” commented Tristan Pascall, Chief Executive Officer. “While we expect the positive operational momentum to continue into the second half of the year, we are cognizant of the global economic slowdown. I believe that we are well-positioned to navigate through the near-term challenges with our focus on improving productivity and unit costs.” Q2 2023 SUMMARY In Q2 2023, First Quantum reported gross profit of $265 million, EBITDA1 of $568 million, net earnings attributable to shareholders of $0.13 per share, and adjusted earnings of $0.12 per share2. Relative to the first quarter of this year (“Q1 2023”), second quarter financial results benefitted from higher copper sales volumes and lower input costs, which was partially offset by lower realized copper and nickel prices. Total copper production for the second quarter was 187,175 tonnes, a 35% increase from Q1 2023. The quarter-over-quarter increase in production was attributable to an improvement in grades at Cobre Panamá, Kansanshi and Sentinel and higher throughput at Cobre Panamá and Sentinel. Copper C1 cash cost2 of $1.98 per lb for Q2 2023 was $0.26 per lb lower than Q1 2023. The improvement in copper C1 cash costs2 was related to improved production volumes and lower fuel and explosive costs. Production at the three major copper operations is expected to...