Kinross Gold Corporation (KGC) has announced temporary suspension of mill operations at its Round Mountain mine in Nye County, NV. The decision was made following a fire break out in the mill building on Oct 1. There were no casualties in the accident. Round Mountain, although operated by Kinross, is a 50/50 joint venture with Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX).

Kinross is presently evaluating the time for which mining activities will be on halt. The company plans to provide an update on this mining site while announcing its third-quarter results on Nov 5.

However, roughly 75% of Round Mountain’s production is continuing from the mine’s heap leach facilities. Total production at Round Mountain as of Jun 30, 2014 was 87,329 gold equivalent ounces. Kinross does not anticipate any impact in the company’s production guidance for the American Region for 2014 due to the present downtime.

Kinross posted its second-quarter results in Jul 2014. Its adjusted earnings were $32.9 million or 3 cents per share, down 72.5% from adjusted earnings of $119.5 million or 10 cents per share in the year-ago quarter.

Reported net earnings were $46 million or 4 cents per share in the quarter, a significant improvement from a loss of $2,481.9 million, or $2.17 per share posted in the prior-year quarter. Net loss in the second quarter of 2013 incorporated an after-tax non-cash impairment charge of $2,289.3 million.

Revenues decreased roughly 5.8% year over year to $911.9 million in the reported quarter due to lower average realized gold prices.

Kinross currently holds a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Better-ranked stocks in the gold mining space include Rio Alto Mining Limited (RIOM) and Alamos Gold Inc. (AGI). While Rio Alto Mining carries a Zack Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Alamos Gold holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

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