Shares of Canadian miner Endeavour Silver (TSX:EDR)(NYSE:EXK) are on the rise in Wednesday trading, boosted by the company releasing results from the fourth quarter and full year 2017 showing an improvement in precious metal production during the final three months of the year.
For the quarter, company-wide silver production rose 32% from the year prior quarter to 1.44 million ounces. Gold production was up 28% to 14,577 ounces. Vancouver-based Endeavour sold 1.4 million ounces of silver during the quarter and 14,117 ounces of gold. At the end of the year, the company’s inventory included 209,337 ounces of silver and 487 ounces of gold.
For all of 2017, things weren’t as rosy, as annual production decreased at the hands of a sluggish Q1. During Q2 through Q4, production increased, though, with Q4 the best three months of the year. Silver production was down 9% year-over-year to 4.92 million ounces, while gold production dipped 8% to 53,007 ounces. Silver equivalent ounces produced, calculated at a 75:1 silver-to-gold ratio, totaled 8.9 million ounces. That was at the low end of original 2017 guidance and the high end of revised guidance.
Per mine, Guanaceví produced 2.1 million ounces of silver and 4,740 ounces of gold; Bolañitos produced 934,238 ounces of silver and 26,910 ounces of gold; and El Cubo produced 1.92 million ounces of silver and 21,357 ounces of gold. Management noted that production at Guanaceví was negatively impacted by mine flooding that resulted from power grid problems and a lightning strike causing pumps to fail, issues that were resolved in the second half of the year.
Looking ahead, the company expects to release updated economics for the new El Compas mine, year-end reserve and resource estimates and production and cost guidance for 2018 in the next month or so.
Shares of Toronto-listed EDR are trading ahead 4.44% at $3.06 at about 1 PM EST, while shares of NYSE-listed EXK are up 4.68% at $2.46.
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