Ero Copper has indicated it’s in good position to increase production in 2020, despite macroeconomic uncertainties because of its low-cost, high-profit operations.
This year, the company expects to increase its production to 1.4mn mt grading 1.4pc copper at its Pilar mine, while its Vermelhos mine will produce around 750,000mt of ore. The ore from both Pilar and Vermelhos will feed into the company’s copper output at its Curaçá Valley operations in Brazil.
In 2019, the Canadian miner processed 2.4mn mt of copper grading 1.93pc to produce 42,318mt of copper concentrate that averaged 90.5pc, 39pc rise over its 2018 production. During Q4 2019, Ero processed 589,065mt of ore to produce 11,526mt of concentrate.
The company sold 42,759mt of copper concentrate in 2019, an increase from 30,107mt sold in 2018. In Q4 2019, it sold 11,595mt of concentrate, down from 12,900mt sold during the same period Q4 2018. The company’s higher revenue was also driven by lower cash costs associated with producing copper. In 2019, Ero’s cash costs stood at 93¢/lb compared with $1.19/lb in 2018. In the fourth quarter of 2019, the company’s cash costs declined to 80¢/lb from 99¢/lb during the same quarter in 2018.
Ero’s net income rose to $92.5mn in 2019 compared with a loss of 3mn during the previous year. In Q4 2019, its net income increased to $45.4mn compared to $11.3mn in the same period in 2019. The company’s EBITDA in 2019 rose to $134.1mn in 2019 compared with $99.9mn in the prior year and dropped to $31.2mn in Q4 2019 from $39mn in Q4 2018.