Monsters of Rock: Mid-tier gold miners announce dividends, Whitehaven up on brighter coal outlook

There were record profits posted for a couple of mid-tier gold miners on Thursday in what was a largely negative trading day for the majors.

Africa gold miner Perseus Mining (ASX:PRU) saw a 48% rise in NPAT to $139.4 million in FY2021 and 11% increase in EBITDA to $303.1m.

It will see Perseus, which operates the Yaoure, Sissingue and Edikan gold mines in Africa, pay its first dividend of 1.5c per share to shareholders. The company expects to increase its production level from around 330,000oz in FY21 to 500,000oz in FY22.

WA gold miner Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS) reported a record profit for FY21 of $126.8m and will pay a full franked 2.5c per share dividend.

Not so great for Gwalia gold mine owner St Barbara (ASX:SBM), which ate a statutory loss of $177m after a 26% drop in underlying profit from $108m in FY20 to $81m in FY21. It will still pay a 2c per share dividend.

Gold stocks share prices today:

WHITEHAVEN COAL (ASX:WHC)

Cyclical lows in thermal coal have been replaced with record highs, Whitehaven CEO Paul Flynn said in the company’s earnings report today, as east coal thermal and met coal companies eye off brighter market conditions in 2022.

Despite reporting an $87.3 million net loss after tax in FY2021 ($543.9m when $650m worth of impairments are taken into account) and a 33% decrease in EBITDA to $204.5m, investors were positive about a coal market that appears to have turned a corner since the end of the financial year. Whitehaven shares went up more than 4%.

Whitehaven said it expects high quality, high-CV thermal coal cupply to remain tight, with prices forecast to continue to remain strong through the 2023 calendar year.

“Today, the outlook is better than we have seen for some time, with the strong price environment putting us on an accelerated timeline to de-leveraging the balance sheet and returning cash to shareholders,” Flynn said.

Whitehaven had net debt on its books of $808.5 million as of June 30.