10:57 AM EST, 02/07/2018 (MT Newswires) -- Klondex Mines' (KDX.TO) update on its Fire Creek in mine in Nevada led analysts to downgrade their rating for the Vancouver-based company.

On Tuesday, Klondex announced proven and probable gold reserves at the facility of 229,000 ounces as of Nov. 30, 2017 with grading of 0.69 ounces per ton. Those results are a drop of 22% and 44%, respectively, from their previous update at the end of June.

Canaccord Genuity analyst Rahul Paul said he was surprised by the decline in both reserves and grades, noting Fire Creek, the company's cornerstone asset, has "benefited from healthy levels of exploration and development spending (cumulative capital investment of $66.6 million from Q1 2015 to Q3 2017)."

Paul downgraded Klondex shares to hold from buy, citing the tempered expectations. His target for the stock fell to $2.75 from $4.15. The average is $3.71. KDX shares were off 8% in morning trading to $2.17.