That would not be unusual in the gold industry, where writedowns have destroyed historic profits in recent years. Barrick Gold Corp. has retained earnings of negative US$7.8 billion, while Kinross Gold Corp. is at minus US$8.5 billion. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. has a US$4 billion historic loss, while Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. has a slimmer loss of US$740 million.

These companies have highly profitable operations that continue to perform well in a tough gold market. But they paid the price for taking risky bets that backfired and crushed shareholder value when gold prices dropped.

Inglorious writedowns: Gold sector’s bad bets wiping out lifetime earnings and investor confidence