VIDEO: Sandstorm CEO comments on 'transformative' year and lessons learned from Colossus bankruptcy |
- VIDEO: Sandstorm CEO comments on 'transformative' year and lessons learned from Colossus bankruptcy
- World's oldest gold mine in Georgia a 'myth,' says government
- MMG in halt on possible deal with Glencore Xstrata over Las Bambas
- Gold falls over 1% ahead of Fed meeting, Russian attempts to defuse tension
- Antofagasta hit by copper slump, will pay big dividend regardless
| VIDEO: Sandstorm CEO comments on 'transformative' year and lessons learned from Colossus bankruptcy Posted: 18 Mar 2014 03:39 PM PDT Vancouver-based streaming firm Sandstorm Gold (TSE:SSL) has seen some impressive gains on its share price over the past week; last Monday the company was trading at less than $6 per share, by the end of the week it was more than $7.50. The company's 2013 results are to thank. Sandstorm reported record sales and revenue last Tuesday, the result of a "transformation" year, as CEO Nolan Watson describes it. By the end of 2013 the company saw its investments mature, with all of its assets now in commercial production. There were some highly-publicized bumps along the way. In December the company was forced to review its investment in Colossus Minerals after the miner halted the development of its Serra Pelada mine in Brazil due to a serious lack of cash. Colossus has since delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange and its bankruptcy plan was approved by the Ontario court last week. Despite this blunder, Watson says company has had a "very, very positive year." "We stand here in a really strong position with lots of cash." In this interview with MINING.com, Watson elaborates on the lessons learned from Serra Pelada and what Sandstorm is looking for this year. He also explains why streaming agreements can benefit some miners more than traditional forms of financing.  |
| World's oldest gold mine in Georgia a 'myth,' says government Posted: 18 Mar 2014 01:15 PM PDT  Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia press conference, March 14, 2014 | Photo from Ministry news release The Georgian government has given RMG Gold the go-ahead to continue with its mining project at Sakdrisi-Kachagiani, a site in the country's southeast region. Opponents condemned the move because, according to some archaeologists, Sakdrisi-Kachagiani might be the world's oldest gold mine, and they want to preserve the site's rich history. The Georgian Ministry of Culture carried out an investigation of the area and announced last Friday that there's no proof of the ancient mine's existence. "The Government of Georgia considers it impracticable to impede employment of thousands of people and improvement of business environment based on a myth," the ministry wrote in a news release. The ministry will also invite "independent international experts" to monitor RMG's mining operations at the site so that if a "scientific discovery" is made the excavated artefacts can be researched and placed in museums. According to EurasiaNet, in 2004 archaeologists from the National Museum of Georgia and the German Mining Museum uncovered caves and mining tools at Sakdrisi-Kachagianiare which they believe date back the third millennium, BC. Sakdrisi was previously listed as a protected historical site. The Culture Ministry stripped it of this status in 2013, according to Eurasianet, at which point Russian-owned RMG decided to begin developing the mine. A group of archaeologists and preservationists said last week that to allow the mining operation and "ignore" the results of nine-year old scientific research and broad public interest would be a "huge injustice," Georgian new outlet Civil.ge reported. Last year the President of the German Association of Archaeology wrote to the Georgian government in support of preserving the site, calling the removal of its protected status "shameful." "If this plans are going to be implemented not just Georgia, also Europe, will loose one of its most important prehistoric mining sites forever," Dr. Hermann Parzinger wrote. RMG is one of Georgia`s biggest taxpayers, according to Eurasianet. |
| MMG in halt on possible deal with Glencore Xstrata over Las Bambas Posted: 18 Mar 2014 11:06 AM PDT Shares of MMG, the Hong Kong-listed offshore arm of China Minmetals Corp, were halted Tuesday after jumping 8% on fresh speculation of an imminent deal with Glencore Xstrata (LON:GLEN) on its $5.9 billion Las Bambas copper project. The commodity trader and mining giant agreed to sell the mine last year in order to win approval from China's Ministry of Commerce for is Glencore- Xstrata merger. However, the company doesn't have to do it if it comes to the conclusion that there is no suitable offer. For about three months now MMG has been signalled as the most likely next owner of the copper project, but the parties hit a snag over price, pushing talks beyond an internal March 4 deadline to reach an agreement. If successful, the deal would be the biggest acquisition by China of an overseas mining asset since 2008, when state-owned Chinalco acquired 12% of Rio Tinto for $14 billion. If the sale is not achieved by September 30, however, Beijing can direct Glencore Xstrata to sell one of four other copper assets. |
| Gold falls over 1% ahead of Fed meeting, Russian attempts to defuse tension Posted: 18 Mar 2014 08:00 AM PDT Gold futures dropped more than 1% in New York Tuesday, settling just below a six-month high reached in the previous session as traders choose caution ahead of tomorrow's US Federal Reserve's policy review and ongoing tensions in Crimea. Analysts believe the Fed's announcement, expected to include a fresh $10-billion cut to its bond-buying stimulus, will have only a limited effect on the gold price. Bart Jaworski, mining equity analyst at Davy Research, told MINING.com he believed the Fed tapering would have a much smaller negative effect on gold going forward. However, he said bullion prices would depend on what happens with Ukraine and he go-forward relations between Russia and the West. Traders felt some relief Tuesday after Russian president Vladimir Putin said his country "doesn't want any more of Ukraine," as he signed a bill to annex Ukraine's Crimea territory. "If the Crimea [annexation] doesn't lead to a domino effect in Eastern Ukraine, then its likely gold will revert to underlying fundamentals, which are not too supportive in the near-term," Jaworski said.
Gold futures for April delivery hit a low of $1,358 an ounce and stood at $1,360.90 by 07:30 GMT, down $12.00. The contract rallied to $1,392.60 yesterday, its strongest since September 2013. Cash gold, which often tracks COMEX, fell $6.36 an ounce to $1,359.98, having rallied on Monday to a six-month high at $1,391.76 before profit taking kicked in. Image by Cowardlion |
| Antofagasta hit by copper slump, will pay big dividend regardless Posted: 18 Mar 2014 04:00 AM PDT  Higher energy charges at Los Pelambres mine in Chile, which accounts for two-thirds of the company's output, pushed Antofagasta's costs up 10% per pound of copper output last year. Chilean copper producer Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) rose 3.7% in early trading Tuesday as it announced it would give its investors a significant dividend despite its earnings dropped over a third last year because of lower copper prices and increased costs. The company, majority owned by the wealthy Luksic family, said it would pay its shareholders a dividend equivalent to 142% of its full year earnings, up from a 70% payout ratio in 2012. Net profit attributable to equity shareholders, however, fell 36% to $660 million in 2013, adding that a 10% fall in its realized copper price triggered a revenue fall of 11%, even when total copper output rose 1.6%. Chief Executive Diego Hernandez said the company's expected production for this year would again be about 700,000 tonnes.
Hernandez warned the operations' profitability would depend to a large extent on the copper price during the year, which he expected to be "reasonably stable," with levels similar to 2013, despite short-term fluctuations. By noon GMT Antofagasta's shares were down almost 7% for the day, to $826.5p. |
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