(RTTNews) - Petaquilla Minerals, Ltd. (PTQ.TO: News ) Tuesday reported first-quarter net income attributed to shareholders of $5.2 million or $0.03 per share, compared to a loss of $5.7 million or $0.05 per share in the year-ago period.
The Vancouver, Canada-headquartered company said the improvement was mainly due to an increase of 68 percent in gold poured combined with higher gold prices and a reduction of 25 percent in cash cost per ounce sold. Gold poured during the quarter totaled 18,014 ounces. Actual gold mined equaled 33,203 ounces, contributing to reach 43,213 stockpiled gold ounces as part of the company's plans to increase future production at its Molejon gold mine.
Cash cost at $554 per ounce of gold sold was the lowest cash cost per ounce of gold sold recorded during the last five quarters of operation. As a consequence, operating profit of $9.8 million for the quarter reflected an increase of 436 percent as compared to the same period of fiscal 2011.
Revenues for the quarter ended August 31 surged to $26.2 million from $14.7 million in the year-ago quarter.
Earnings from Operations for the quarter were $6.0 million compared to a loss of $2.7 million last year.
Cash flow from operations was positive at $9.9 million, representing an increase of 340 percent compared to cash flow generated during the first quarter of fiscal 2011.
On September 1, 2011 in connection with the acquisition of Iberian Resources Corp., the company issued 44,635,225 common shares of the company, 1,511,248 warrants to purchase 1,640,419 common shares at prices ranging from US$0.14 to US$0.60 and options to purchase 3,357,313 common shares at prices ranging from CAD$0.10 to US$0.60.
PTQ.TO is currently trading at C$0.75, down C$0.06 or 7.41%, on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Over the past year, the stock traded in a range of C$0.59 - C$1.36.
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