Alacer reveals $412m write-down

Alacer Gold will write down the value of its Australian gold mines by $412 million as the precious metals price continues to bruise miners

Alacer Gold is the latest victim of the precious metal's price plunge and has announced a $412 million asset write-down.

The heavy hit applies to its two Australian mines located around Kalgoorlie that are for sale.

Alacer is still profitable due to its younger, growing Turkish Copler mine which the company said produced 68,195 ounces of gold for the quarter.

The more mature Australian mines produced 41,622 ounces but at a 221 per cent higher cost of $1,268 an ounce, according to Alacer.

The miner is the latest in a string of Australian goldminers to rush through asset write-downs in the hundreds of millions of dollars before earnings season begins.

This week alone, Kingsgate Consolidated and Resolute Mining announced severe job cuts and impairments respectively.

Newcrest Mining flagged a possible $6 billion writedown in June with the total globally at least $15 billion in the last two months.

Alacer said cash flows at the two mines: Higginsville and South Kalgoorlie had been adversely affected.

The reasons included production levels, operating costs, and capital expenditures as well as economic factors, such as gold prices, the company said was beyond its control.

Alacer realised an average price of $1,394 an ounce for the three months to June 30, a drop of nearly 14 per cent from $1,616 an ounce for the same period last year, an inverse reaction to the US dollar's recent rises.

"The reduction in the value of the Australian asset has largely been driven by the significant decrease in the gold price and associated market sentiment during the first half of 2013," the company said in a statement.

The Australian side of the business had lost $48.5 million during the quarter, it said, although $21.9 million of that was due to adverse foreign exchange movements as the Aussie currency fell.

Alacer shares gained four cents to $2.80.

The company was formed in a $2 billion merger in 2011 of Canada's Anatolia Minerals Development and ASX-listed Avoca Resources and traded at nearly $11 that year.


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Source: AAP


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