TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canadian base metals miner Capstone Mining this week reported a net loss for the three months ended March 31, pulled lower by fewer sales, lower realised prices and higher-than-expected depreciation expenses.

The Vancouver-based miner on Wednesday reported a net loss of $4.4-million, or $0.01 a share, compared with net earnings of $6.9-million, or $0.02 a share, in the comparable quarter of 2013.

The net loss was influenced by earnings from mining operations of $17.1-million, 29% higher year-on-year, a 12% drop in the realised copper price of $3.09/oz, production costs that included a $10-million non-cash charge relating a write-down of inventory at Minto, in Canada’s Yukon territory and a $7.8-million tax expense.

Excluding these items, Capstone reported adjusted earnings of $5.6-million, or $0.01 a share, below the consensus estimate of earning $0.07 a share.

Capstone reported revenue of $160.8-million, compared with revenue of $57.7-million in the first quarter of 2013, boosted mainly from selling 26 601 t of payable copper, up 6 849 t of payable copper.

The average realised price for copper fell 12% to $3.09/lb.

Copper output more than tripled to 26 635 t, boosted in large part by Capstone’s acquisition last October of BHP Billiton’s Pinto Valley copper mine and the associated San Manuel Arizona Railroad, in Arizona, for $650-million plus a working capital adjustment of $2.6-million.

Overall, the company’s on-site cash costs rose by $0.17/lb of copper produced to $1.89/lb.

Pinto produced 16 701 t of copper in concentrates and 621 t of copper cathode at a C1 cash cost of $2.06/lb of payable copper.

In March, Capstone reported that a prefeasibility study for the Pinto Valley mine Phase 2 could extend the mine life to 2026, at an average yearly output of 54 200 t of copper in concentrate and 2 900 t of copper cathode, at a cash cost of $2/lb of payable copper.

On the TSX, the company’s stock fell 4.18% on Wednesday noon to C$2.75 apiece.