Centerra Gold reports strong Q4 on sharply higher gold output and better price

Centerra Gold Inc (CG.TO: Quote) reported a fourth-quarter profit, reversing....

Centerra Gold Inc (CG.TO: Quote) reported a fourth-quarter profit, reversing a year-earlier loss, helped by higher gold production and sales.Centerra, 52 percent-owned by Canadian uranium miner Cameco Corp (CCO.TO: Quote), said on Friday it earned $42.6 million, or 20 cents a share. That compares with a loss of $26.7 million, or 12 cents a share, a year earlier, when the company had $36.5 million in non-cash expenses.Earnings in the latest quarter included a $18.8 million goodwill charge related to the company’s Mongolian operating unit.Centerra, whose main asset is the Kumtor gold mine in Kyrgyzstan, said negotiations with the government over an ownership agreement for the mine are continuing. It said it is optimistic the discussions will result in "a mutually acceptable and lasting settlement of all issues."Fourth-quarter revenue rose 170 percent to $241.3 million, reflecting a 164 percent increase in ounces sold and a 2 percent increase in realized gold price."During the fourth quarter Kumtor set records for mill throughput, material moved and gold produced and sold," said Stephen Lang, president and chief executive at Centerra.Output for the quarter was 284,045 ounces at a cost of $379 per ounce, up from 132,530 ounces at $585 per ounce a year earlier.Full-year production was up 35 percent to 748,888 ounces. The company had expected production of 740,000 to 790,000 ounces at a cost of $460 to $495 an ounce.For 2009, the company said it expects consolidated gold production of 720,000 to 770,000 ounces.For more than a year, Centerra has been trying to finalize an agreement with Kyrgyzstan that would see Cameco reduce its ownership stake in Kumtor and the country double its 15 percent stake.A deal was reached in August 2007 and appeared to put to rest concerns that the government might nationalize the project. However, the agreement was stalled in parliament and expired last June. Centerra has since been trying to revive it.