CNMC Q1 profit falls 98.8% to US$54.8m on poorer ore grades

CNMC Goldmine Holdings' first-quarter net profit dropped 98.8 per cent to US$54,834, or 0.01 US cent per share, as lower ore grades hit output and sales volumes despite higher realised prices.

Revenue fell 43.8 per cent to US$4.7 million as gold output and sales volumes fell 49.5 per cent to 3,669.90 ounces. All-in production costs jumped to US$983 per ounce from a year-ago US$487 per ounce, hitting the bottom line even though the company sold its gold at a higher price of US$1,287.62 per ounce compared to US$1,155.76 per ounce a year earlier.

The Malaysia-focused gold miner is building a carbon-in-leach processing plant - its third - to enhance gold recovery rates. The company aims to have the plant operational later in the year with an initial capacity of 500 tonnes of ore per day, expandable to 1,000 tonnes per day. CNMC's current facilities process 1.2 million tonnes of ore per year.

The new plant has a theoretical recovery rate of 95 per cent, which would be an improvement from the company's current 65 per cent average, CNMC said. Construction will be funded internally. CNMC had US$24.99 million of cash and cash equivalents as at March 31.