Silver Wheaton Reports Record Production of Over Ten Million Silver Equivalent Ounces In The First Quarter Of 2015May 8, 2015
Silver Wheaton Corporation is pleased to announce its unaudited results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2015. All figures are presented in United States dollars unless otherwise noted.
FIRST QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS •Record attributable silver equivalent production in Q1 2015 of 10.4 million ounces (6.3 million ounces of silver and 55,100 ounces of gold), compared with 9.0 million ounces in Q1 2014, representing an increase of 15%.
•Attributable silver equivalent sales volume in Q1 2015 of 7.7 million ounces (5.7 million ounces of silver and 28,400 ounces of gold), compared with 8.1 million ounces in Q1 2014, representing a decrease of 5%.
•During the three month period ending March 31, 2015, payable silver equivalent ounces attributable to the Company produced but not yet delivered increased by 1.6 million ounces to approximately 6.5 million ounces.
•Revenues of $130.5 million in Q1 2015 compared with $165.4 million in Q1 2014, representing a decrease of 21%.
•Average realized sale price per silver equivalent ounce sold in Q1 2015 of $16.90 ($16.95 per ounce of silver and $1,214 per ounce of gold), compared with $20.38 in Q1 2014, representing a decrease of 17%.
•Net earnings of $49.4 million ($0.13 per share) in Q1 2015 compared with $79.8 million ($0.22 per share) in Q1 2014, representing a decrease of 38%.
•Operating cash flows of $89.1 million ($0.24 per share[1]) in Q1 2015 compared with $114.8 million ($0.32 per share[1]) in Q1 2014, representing a decrease of 22%.
•Cash operating margin[1] in Q1 2015 of $12.44 per silver equivalent ounce compared with $15.81 in Q1 2014, representing a decrease of 21%.
•Average cash costs[1] in Q1 2015 were $4.14 and $388 per ounce of silver and gold, respectively. On a silver equivalent basis, average cash costs[1] decreased to $4.46 compared with $4.57 in Q1 2014.
•Declared quarterly dividend of $0.05 per common share.
•On January 5, 2015, the Company announced that it had amended its silver purchase agreement related to Barrick Gold Corporation's ("Barrick") Pascua-Lama project ("Pascua-Lama"), located on the border of Chile and Argentina.
•On February 27, 2015, the Company announced that it had amended and restated its revolving credit facility ("Revolving Facility"). Silver Wheaton increased the available credit from $1 billion to $2 billion and used proceeds drawn from the Revolving Facility together with cash on hand to repay the $1 billion of debt previously outstanding under the Company's non-revolving term loan.
•On March 2, 2015, Silver Wheaton announced that it had acquired from Vale S.A. ("Vale") an additional 25% of the life of mine gold production from its Salobo mine, located in Brazil, for an upfront payment of $900 million.
•On March 2, 2015, the Company announced that it had entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters led by Scotiabank, pursuant to which they agreed to purchase, on a bought deal basis, 38,930,000 common shares of Silver Wheaton at a price of US$20.55 per share (the "Offering"), for aggregate gross proceeds to Silver Wheaton of approximately US$800 million.
•On March 17, 2015, the Company announced that it had closed the Offering and received $800 million in gross proceeds (net proceeds of approximately $769 million after payment of underwriters' fees and expenses).
"Silver Wheaton had a strong start to 2015, with record production in the first quarter and the addition of more gold from one of our cornerstone assets. For the first time in our history, Silver Wheaton produced over ten million silver equivalent ounces in one quarter. While the quarterly sales volumes did not reflect the record production, we recognize that this is simply a timing issue and we fully expect to see increased sales as the year progresses," said Randy Smallwood, President and Chief Executive Officer of Silver Wheaton. "Our record first quarter production was driven by the recent acquisition of an additional 25% of gold from the Salobo mine in Brazil, as well as the first contributions of gold and silver from the Constancia mine in Peru. We expect both of these streams to realize further gains over the coming year, as the Salobo mine is currently ramping-up production after expanding in the middle of last year and the Constancia mine achieved commercial production on April 30th of this year. We also continue to see some very good opportunities to add additional accretive ounces to our existing portfolio. Overall, the first quarter represents a strong start to what we believe will be a prolonged period of significant organic growth for Silver Wheaton without requiring any further capital."
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