LONDON (Reuters) – Acacia Mining (ACAA.L) reported a near 50 percent fall in first quarter earnings on Thursday after reducing operations at its flagship gold mine in Tanzania amid a tax dispute with the government.
Acacia, a unit of Canada’s Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) and Tanzania’s largest gold miner, said its gold production fell 45 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier to 120,981 ounces, mainly due to lower output at its flagship Bulyanhulu mine.
Acacia’s London-listed shares skidded 8.8 percent to 141 pence by 0919 GMT and have now tumbled more than 70 percent since Tanzania introduced a ban on concentrate exports in March 2017.
The company stuck to its full-year targets, targeting output of between 435,000-475,000 ounces, or at least 38 percent lower than 2017, at a cost of $935-985 per ounce.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the three months to March 31 fell to $44 million from $82 million a year earlier, Acacia said.
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