Bema Gold Corp. posted a profit in its second quarter after reporting a loss a year ago, helped by the rising price of gold and increased production.


The Vancouver-based gold miner, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, said Monday it earned a quarterly profit of $18.1 million, or 4 cents per share, for the three months ended June 30. That compared with a loss of $12.3 million, or 3 cents per share, a year ago.

Quarterly revenue more than doubled to $50.8 million, up from $22.4 million in the second quarter of 2005.

The average analyst estimate according to Thomson Financial had been for a profit of a penny per share, based on seven analysts.

Bema attributed the increase in revenue to the resumption of commercial production at the Refugio mine, higher gold sales at its Julietta mine and a sharply higher average realized gold price.

The company sold 83,765 ounces of gold in the quarter at an average realized price of $606 an ounce. That compared with 53,504 ounces at an average realized price of $418 per ounce in the same quarter last year.

Bema's consolidated gold production during the second quarter was 79,857 ounces at a total cash cost of $416 per ounce. In the second quarter of 2005, Bema produced 59,068 ounces of gold at a total cash cost of $314 per ounce.

Bema announced last month that its Cerro Casale copper-and-gold project in Chile will cost nearly $2 billion to build, up nearly 20 percent from an earlier estimate of $1.65 billion.

The company said the project it is trying to develop with Arizona Star Resource Corp. requires an initial capital investment of $1.96 billion and would have a project life of 17 years with a payback period of 4.9 years.

Average gold production is estimated at 990,000 ounces per year and copper production at 294 million pounds per year.

Shares of Bema, which reported its results after the close of markets on Monday, fell 11 cents, or 2 percent, to close at $5.31 on the New York Stock Exchange. They recovered 6 cents to $5.37 in aftermarket trading.