CAPITAL MARKETS

ERA posts a loss

ENERGY Resources of Australia reported a net loss for full year 2013, with lower revenues and sal...

Justin Niessner

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Net loss after tax for the year was $A136 million compared to a loss of $219 million in 2012.

Revenue from sales of uranium was down 10% compared to the previous year at $355.9 million, while revenue from continuing operations was 12% lower at $370.1 million.

Sales of uranium oxide were down 12.6% compared to 2012 at 2815 tonnes at a 7.6% lower average realised sale price of $US53.92 per pound.

ERA said it maintained its strategy of focusing on the long-term price rather than the spot price but confirmed both spot and long-term indicators declined significantly over the year.

The company said costs were lower than the previous year due in part to reduced staff numbers, rationalisation of overhead costs, savings on consumable costs, corporate costs and employee benefits.

Capital expenditure decreased 43.5% over the year to $A91 million.

The reduction in costs was also partially explained by the fact that mining rehabilitation expenses were not included on the statement of comprehensive income.

The failure in December of a leach tank at the Ranger processing plant in December resulted in 20% lower uranium oxide production for the year at 2960t and a number of ongoing rehabilitation costs.

As of the end of 2013, ERA had raised $1.3 million to cover the remaining clean-up, decommissioning and investigation costs but the full financial impact of the failure is still being assessed.

Rehabilitation work has included a recently approved dredge and tailings project estimated to cost about $69 million.

It is expected to be commissioned in mid-2015.

The company's financial report for the year coincided with an annual inventory assessment that marked a 30.2% drop in proved and probable ore reserves at Ranger to 6756t of uranium oxide due to depletion by processing.

Ranger resources also decreased by 11.1% over the year to 56,333t of uranium oxide, with the majority of the drop attributed to the unrecoverable placement of low-grade stockpiled materials.

The 2013 ore reserves and resources for the Jabiluka project in the Northern Territory remained unchanged at 67,700t and 73,940t of uranium oxide respectively.

The company said it maintained sufficient inventory to meet all sales commitments in the first half of 2014.

Shares in ERA last closed at $1.23.

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