istock July 2014 BCBusiness 89
Scan the "income" column,
and you'd think 2013 was a disastrous
year for B.C.'s gold miners. The bot-
tom line is deceiving, however; one-
time writedowns at the end of the year
masked otherwise solid operating per-
formances, and pave the way for profit-
ability and continued growth.
Goldcorp Inc. recorded a loss of
$2.7 billion for the year, while Eldorado
Gold Corp. and New Gold Inc. reported
losses of $653 million and $191 mil-
lion, respectively (all figures in U.S.
dollars). All three, however, reported
near-record output and operating costs
that are among the industry's lowest—
typically in the range of $900 an ounce
(well below current market prices hov-
ering around $1,300 an ounce).
The gap between productivity and
profitability can be attributed largely
to accounting adjustments due to fall-
ing gold prices. At the start of the year,
gold had been trading in the $1,700-an-
ounce range for about three years.
By year-end it dropped to $1,200 an
ounce. The falling price didn't translate
directly to losses for the three compa-
nies, but forced them to reassess the
value of the gold reserves they were
Return of the Golden Age
After a one-time adjustment in 2013, the province's major gold producers
are well positioned to get back to profitability
b y d A v i d j o R d A n
n A t u R A l R e s o u R c e s
the
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