Reuters
by Samia Errazzouki
Top Moroccan miner Managem reported a 41 percent rise in annual net profit to 289 million dirhams ($29 million) on Thursday helped by higher output and a rebound in metals prices.
Managem said significant discoveries had led to higher production, including a 32 percent rise in silver, 4 percent in cobalt, and 8 percent in zinc.
Increases in copper and silver production mitigated a decline in gold production in the Bakoudou mine in Gabon, it said.
Operating profit rose 9 percent to 673 million dirhams on consolidated sales up 1 percent at 4.377 billion dirhams.
Managem subsidiary Imiter Metallurgical Co (SMI), which operates in the Imider area, said its net profit rose 25 percent to 293 million dirhams.
The world’s seventh-biggest producer of silver, SMI said it saw a 32 percent increase in production in the second half of the year.
Managem said it would propose a dividend of 21 dirhams per share, while SMI said it would propose a dividend of 150 dirhams.
Managem produces gold, silver, cobalt and copper in Morocco and Gabon and is controlled by SNI, the Moroccan royal family’s holding company.
It recently signed a $100 million mining contract with Guinea which is projected to produce 100,000 ounces of gold a year.
(Reporting by Samia Errazzouki; editing by Aidan Lewis and Jason Neely)
