What happened Shares of miner Americas Gold and Silver (NYSEMKT: USAS) fell quickly and deeply this morning, dropping by as much as 20% in the first half-hour of trading. The news precipitating the steep declines was the company's first-quarter 2021 earnings release. Obviously, investors weren't pleased. So what The gold and silver miner reported revenue of $10.2 million in the quarter, but a net loss of $91.8 million, or $0.72 per share. This at a time when prices of precious metals are at elevated levels, which is clearly not a good thing. Even after taking out one-time items, the company bled $0.10 of red ink per share. This alone would be enough to put investors on edge, but the really important facts here are found in the one-time items that the "adjusted" loss removes. Image source: Getty Images. There were two big one-time charges in the quarter. One was an impairment charge of $55.6 million taken over the company's Relief Canyon investment. The other was a $23 million writedown of inventory related to the project. Although there are a number of complexities involved (including difficult mining conditions and lower-than-projected recoveries), the big picture is that the Relief Canyon investment just hasn't been going very well and isn't producing the results that management had expected. Although this happens with big mining projects from time to time, investors appear to be reducing the stock's price to reflect the troubles. Now what The news today wasn't all bad. Notably, it appears that a blockade at one of the company's Mexican mines, which has been going on for more than a year, is on the way to be settled. That's good, for sure, but the negatives in this quarterly update are obviously outweighing the positives today. 10 stocks we like better than Americas Gold and Silver CorporationWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Americas Gold and Silver Corporation wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of May 11, 2021 Reuben Gregg Brewer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source