Griffin Mining Reports Significant Revenue Growth for 2023

Griffin Mining has announced a substantial increase in revenue for 2023, reporting $146.02 million compared to $94.4 million in 2022. The AIM-traded firm's gross profit rose to $51.84 million from $38.25 million year-on-year, while earnings before depreciation, interest, and tax increased to $51.86 million, up from $35.22 million the previous year.

Operating profit saw a significant jump to $23.84 million from $15.63 million, and profit before tax rose to $24.49 million from $15.27 million. The profit after tax surged to $15.24 million, a substantial improvement from $7.7 million in 2022, with basic earnings per share increasing to 8.03 cents from 4.41 cents.

Operationally, Griffin Mining achieved record levels of ore mined, hauled, and processed in 2023, reaching the mill's nameplate capacity of 1.5 million tonnes per annum. This led to record production of zinc metal in concentrate. The company mined 1,505,642 tonnes of ore, a 76.6% increase, all sourced from Zone III at Caijiaying. Ore processed rose by 82.1% to 1,513,977 tonnes.

As a result, zinc metal concentrate production increased by 79.1%, while gold in concentrate production rose by 68.2%, silver in concentrate production by 40.1%, and lead in concentrate production by 64.5% compared to 2022 levels. Despite a decline in zinc market prices in 2023, lower smelter treatment charges and transport costs led to improved margins. Gold, silver, and lead prices increased throughout the year, with Griffin's partner Hebei Hua Ao receiving premium prices on lead and gold concentrate sales.

Production costs rose by 67.7% due to increased ore mining, hauling, and processing, although production costs per tonne of ore processed decreased from $65.80 to $62.60. Operating expenses, excluding certain charges, rose by 4.2% from 2022. The share of profits from Hebei Hua Ao for Chinese partners increased significantly, partly due to force majeure provisions. Additionally, a share incentive plan incurred a charge of $3.02 million in 2023.

Interest receipts on bank deposits saw a notable increase, rising to $1.4 million in 2023 from $0.37 million in 2022.

As of 12:02 BST, Griffin Mining shares were down 0.98% at 151p.