(Kitco News) – Pan American Silver (NASDAQ: PAAS) (TSX: PAAS) announced yesterday that in Q2 2021, the company’s net income was $71.2 million ($0.34 basic income per share), an increase of 267% compared to Q2 2020 ($19.4 million) driven largely by strong mine operating earnings of $103.0 million.
The company said that due to its strong financial position and the company’s expectation for improving free cash flow over the remainder of the year, it is increasing the quarterly dividend by 43% to $0.10 per common share. This marks the third dividend hike in the past 18 months, the company added.
“Strong mine operating earnings of $103 million and strong operating cash flow in Q2 have further improved our financial position. Together with the sale of non-core assets, our cash and short-term investments increased by $34 million in Q2,” said president and CEO Michael Steinmann.
“We expect cash flows to further improve in the second half of the year, with the anticipated rise in throughput rates at La Colorada along with the normalization of inventory levels that were built up during the first half of 2021,” added Steinmann.
Pan American owns and operates silver and gold mines located in Mexico, Peru, Canada, Argentina and Bolivia. The company also owns the Escobal mine in Guatemala that is currently not operating.