By Peter Ker
Australian miners have been relishing the recent falls in the local currency against the US dollar, but they are not the only ones enjoying a tailwind from foreign exchange markets.
ASX-listed gold miner Perseus is expected to publish a remarkable profit result today, which will be boosted significantly by the fact the company's only operating mine is in Ghana, where the local currency fell by 27 per cent against the US dollar during 2014.
Most of Perseus's costs are in Ghana's cedi, but it sells its gold in US dollars and then converts the numbers back to Australian dollars, for the benefit of local investors.
If publications in Canada at the weekend are any guide, Perseus should report an after-tax profit of $41.2 million today, with about 86 per cent of the result because of foreign exchange movements.
The result will be doubly sweet for Perseus boss Jeff Quartermaine, who had to wear $21.6 million of foreign exchange losses when reporting Perseus's full-year loss of $30.9 million in August.
The company's Edikan gold mine in Ghana produced at an all-in cost of $US988 an ounce during the half, well below the average gold price during the period of $US1241 an ounce.
Perseus' ASX-listed shares last traded at 38.5 cents.