Silver Wheaton’s Q3 net earnings slide on asset impairments

The world’s biggest precious metals streaming firm Silver Wheaton on Wednesday reported a 94% slide in its third-quarter net earnings, after falling metals prices had forced asset write-downs. For the three months ended October 30, silver prices had dropped 19% and gold prices fell 9%, prompting the Vancouver-based company to review its entire portfolio and booking an impairment charge of $68.2-million related to its shares of Mercator Minerals’ Mineral Park base metals mine, in Arizona, and Nyrstar’s Campo Morado base metals mine, in Mexico.