Gold miner Lihir Gold Ltd
(ASX:LGL) has posted a loss for 2009 due to impairment charges and operating losses from its now discontinued mine at Ballarat.
Net loss for the 12 months to December 31, 2009 came to US$234 million, impacted by a US$413 million impairment charge against its mine at Ballarat.
Not including the issues at Ballarat, the company posted a record underlying profit of US$290 million up 57% from $184 million in 2008.
Revenue rose 45% to $1.0874 billion for the year with the company declaring a final dividend of 1.5 cents a share.
Lihir also reported record gold production of 1.12 million ounces for the year, the first time the company has produced and sold over 1 million ounces in a year.
The company is forecasting between 960,000 and 1,060,000 ounces of gold production for 2010.
Lihir Gold reported net profit after tax for calendar 2008 of $157.77 million.
