Nyrstar H1 profits hit by falling precious metal prices

Belgium's Nyrstar, the world's largest producer of zinc, said its profits in the first half fell by 20 percent, as it earned less from precious metals which it mines as by-products to its core zinc business.

The group kept its guidance to mine between 300 and 340 thousand tonnes of zinc in concentrate in 2013, with its smelters producing 1.0 to 1.1 million tonnes of the finished metal. It reduced its mining guidance for gold.

Nyrstar said the average price of zinc in the first half was $1,937 per tonne, against $1,916 in the second half of 2012, though prices had slipped since March. It has entered into price hedges for the second half of this year.

The group has an agreement with Finnish miner Talvivaara for the supply of zinc in concentrate, but the latter has been plagued by technical problems which halted production.

Nyrstar said it received 5,000 tonnes of zinc in concentrate from Talvivaara in the second quarter, up from the 2,000 tonnes it received in the first quarter of the year.

Core profit adjusted for one-off items fell 20 percent to 87 million euros ($115.16 million) above the 79.5 million euros expected in a Reuters poll of four analysts. ($1 = 0.7555 euros) (Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek; editing by Philip Blenkinsop.