Mining company Pan American Silver Corp. said Wednesday its first-quarter profit jumped 47 percent on higher production and increased silver prices.
Net income for the three months ended March 31 rose to $30.2 million, or 38 cents per basic share, compared with $20.4 million, or 27 cents per basic share, in the year-earlier period.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected, on average, earnings per share of 39 cents.
The Canada-based company said sales more than doubled in the quarter to $108.8 million.
Pan American produced 4.5 million ounces of silver, 36 percent more than in the first quarter of 2007. The price of silver rose to $17.59 per ounce from $13.29 per ounce in the year-earlier quarter, Pan American said.
In February the company received more than $43.9 million from the exercise of almost 4 million warrants issued in 2003 when it acquired Minera Corner Bay, then owner of Mexico's Alamo Dorado project. Alamo Dorado, Pan American's largest silver mine, produced more than 1.4 million ounces of silver in the recent quarter.
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