Gold and Silver – Page 288 – Republic of Mining

Top 10 gold miners face 2013 earnings nightmare – by Lawrence Williams (Mineweb.com – July 2, 2013)

July 3, 2013

http://www.mineweb.com/

The tribulations of the world’s No. 1 gold miner, Barrick, are a sign of huge difficulties ahead for the other gold majors too.

LONDON (MINEWEB) – Barrick Gold’s latest announcement of yet a further delay in the hugely costly Pascua Lama gold mine, high in the Andes makes one wonder if the company will ever bring it on stream – however the huge amount of money spent so far suggests the world’s No.1 gold miner has gone too far to can the project now and maintain any kind of shareholder confidence.

See also: Barrick’s huge Pascua-Lama gold mine start-up now delayed to mid-2016

Even so, the project could yet be delayed beyond its new projected start-up date of mid-2016 given continuing local hostility on both sides of the Chile and Argentina borders and one has to anticipate that overall capital costs to bring the mine into production may end up to be yet substantially higher – perhaps in excess of $10 billion when the money is finally counted.

Nowadays Barrick says costs have escalated from around $2 billion, when the initial development plans were set, to the current $8 billion plus and a revised capital cost update has been promised for Q3 this year when the re-sequenced construction schedule has been finalised.

Barrick may wipe out retained earnings with huge Pascua-Lama writedown – by Peter Koven (National Post – July 3, 2013)

July 3, 2013

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Barrick Gold Corp. is poised to wipe out all of its retained earnings for the second time in less than four years.

An anticipated writedown of US$4.5-billion to US$5.5-billion on the bungled Pascua-Lama project would eliminate the US$3.9-billion in retained profits that the gold giant reported at the end of the first quarter. Back in 2010, Barrick wiped out more than US$2.2-billion of retained earnings when it took a US$5.2-billion charge to close out its hedge book.

It is highly unusual for a company of Barrick’s size and profitability to be in this position twice in such a short time. And while these are non-cash charges, experts said they point to a troubling trend of poor decision-making and oversight at the world’s largest gold producer.

“The writedowns impact them in perception,” said George Topping, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus.

The red ink could be a lot bigger when the company reports second quarter earnings in four weeks. Barrick warned of other possible impairments last Friday, and analyst Greg Barnes of TD Securities estimated they could total close to US$10-billion.

Analysis: Latest Barrick mine delay fans price tag fears – by Julie Gordon (Reuters U.S. – June 30, 2013)

July 2, 2013

http://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO – (Reuters) – Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO) has slowed spending at its Pascua-Lama project in South America, delaying first output to 2016, but that may not be enough for the its shareholders, who worry that the final price tag may creep beyond what the mine is worth.

While the flagship development, which straddles the border of Chile and Argentina, is one of the richest untapped gold deposits in the world, the string of delays and budget overruns have been a nightmare for world’s top producer and its investors.

“They should walk from Pascua-Lama,” said John Ing, president of boutique investment and research firm Maison Placements, adding that the embattled miner also needs to divest non-core assets, cut exploration spending and slash hefty board salaries if it wants to turn its fortunes around.

Barrick said late on Friday that it would re-sequence construction of the controversial project to target first production by mid-2016, deferring some $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion of planned capital spending in 2013 and 2014. The company has not updated the market on capital costs, last projected to be up to $8.5 billion.

The delay was in-line with a scenario that Credit Suisse analyst Anita Soni outlined earlier this week, as the bank downgraded Barrick to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’.

The case for $10,000-an-ounce gold – by Adam Mayers (Toronto Star – July 1, 2013)

July 1, 2013

The Toronto Star has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

As gold continues its sell-off, a book by a Toronto bullion fund manager predicts better things lie ahead.

It’s been a dreadful stretch for gold bugs. The past three months have seen a record quarterly drop in gold’s price. In the bigger picture, gold is more than a third below its peak of $1,900 (U.S.) an ounce, reached in 2011. Last week, the spot price tumbled anew, settling near $1,225.

Goldman Sachs now sees a price of $1,050 by the end of next year. Barrick Gold, one of the world’s biggest gold miners trimmed 100 head office jobs mostly in Toronto. And Australia’s Newcrest Mining wrote down the value of its assets by $5.5 billion. With news like that who’s buying gold now? Nick Barisheff, CEO of Toronto’s Bullion Management Group for one.

Barisheff runs several precious metal mutual funds, so always likes gold’s lustre. His funds have been around since 2002 and own gold, silver and platinum bars, rather than mining stocks. BMG’s holdings are stored in bank vaults and the funds are RRSP and TFSA eligible.

Barisheff is the author of the recently published $10,000 Gold: Why Gold’s Inevitable Rise Is The Investor’s Safe Haven (Wiley, $39.95). As the title boldly predicts, he sees the metal at $10,000 an ounce, and soon — within seven or eight years. The timing of the book’s release couldn’t be worse, but even so Barisheff says bullion is down, but by no means out.

Barrick faces new setback, more pressure – by Brent Jang (Globe and Mail – July 1, 2013)

July 1, 2013

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

VANCOUVER — Barrick Gold Corp. has gained some breathing room with its decision to delay development of its Pascua-Lama project, but the company faces pressure to shrink its global mining operations amid tumbling metal prices.

Barrick says first production from the South American gold and silver venture will be postponed by more than 18 months, as the Canadian company forecasts taking a writedown of up to $5.5-billion (U.S.) on the project.

Toronto-based Barrick said it has opted to vastly scale back capital spending this year and in 2014 on the project, which is located in the Andes mountains and straddles the border between Chile and Argentina. While construction of the $8.5-billion project has suffered another setback, the venture remains strategically important to the world’s largest gold producer, analysts say.

“With all this talk about what Barrick could look like in the future, Pascua-Lama will be key to the company’s future operational performance, especially if Barrick wants to shed high-cost mines,” said Chris Thompson, a Vancouver-based mining analyst at Raymond James Ltd.

PRESS RELEASE: Barrick Provides Updates on Pascua-Lama Project

July 1, 2013

June 28, 2013

All amounts expressed in US dollars unless otherwise indicated

TORONTO — Barrick Gold Corporation (NYSE:ABX) (TSX:ABX) (Barrick or the “company”) is providing the following updates on the Pascua-Lama project in Chile and Argentina with respect to construction re-sequencing, capital expenditures and impairment testing.

Schedule Re-sequencing and Reduction of 2013-2014 Capital Spending

The company has submitted a plan, subject to review by Chilean regulatory authorities, to construct the project’s water management system in compliance with permit conditions for completion by the end of 2014, after which Barrick expects to complete remaining construction works in Chile, including pre-stripping. Under this scenario, ore from Chile is
expected to be available for processing by mid-2016.

In line with this timeframe, and in light of challenging market conditions and materially lower metal prices, the company intends to re-sequence construction of the process plant and other facilities in Argentina in order to target first production by mid-2016 (compared to the previous schedule of the second half of 2014).

Re-sequencing the project primarily entails a reduction in project staffing levels as construction is extended over a longer period of time to coincide with the availability of ore from Chile in mid-2016.

World Gold Council releases new gold-mining cost metrics – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – June 27, 2013)

July 26, 2013June 28, 2013

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

http://www.gold.org/

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The World Gold Council (WGC) on Thursday released two new methods of calculating and reporting gold-mining costs to improve clarity and provide greater investor understanding of the complete costs associated with the mining of gold.

The first method is an extension of the existing “cash cost” metrics and incorporates costs that are related to sustaining production, which the council refers to as the “all-in sustaining cost”.

The second method takes into account additional costs and reflects the varying costs of producing gold over the life cycle of a mine, which the WGC dubs the “all-in cost”.

WGC director Terry Heymann told Mining Weekly Online from London that the new metrics had been developed to help provide greater clarity and consistency to improve investor understanding.

WGC has worked closely with its member companies and beyond to develop the non-Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) measures and expects them to be helpful to investors, governments, local communities and other stakeholders.

It’s no fun being a gold miner CEO these days – by Lawrence Williams (Mineweb.com – June 28, 2013)

June 28, 2013

http://www.mineweb.com/

FUNCHAL, MADEIRA (MINEWEB) – Only just over a couple of years ago gold mining company CEOs could seemingly do no wrong. The gold price was soaring to record levels, stock prices were mostly strong, shareholders mostly seemed happy, and the major funds which provided much of the companies’ support were calling for more and more growth.

The bandwagon was rolling, and the serious underlying problems which were already surfacing, such as hugely escalating capital costs for new projects, and ever ongoing sharp rises in operating costs were largely being ignored as they were being more than covered by the seemingly ever-rising gold price. The gold bulls were predicting ongoing gold price escalation and those who were suggesting caution were being ignored or ridiculed.

Oh what fun it was being a gold mining company CEO. Money was no object. Smaller companies were being absorbed while mega projects, which would make the execs’ names forever were entered into. As an example of what was occurring, Barrick’s huge Pascua Lama mine straddling the Chile/Argentina borders was going to be brought on stream at a mere $1.5 billion to be spent over 20 years – almost peanuts when the companies, and gold prices, were riding so high.

But the writing was already on the wall – perhaps back in 2007 before the initial market crash brought on by the Lehman Brothers collapse.

Excerpt from “An Insider’s Guide to the Mining Sector: An in-depth study of gold and mining shares”– by Michael Coulson

June 28, 2013

To order a copy of An Insider’s Guide to the Mining Sector, please click here: http://www.harriman-house.com/book/view/66/investing/michael-coulson/an-insiders-guide-to-the-mining-sector/

Investing in gold

Our main concern in this book is to steer investors through the mining share market, and the gold share sector has always offered an encouraging number of choices. However, investors in particular have in the past dabbled in physical gold whether by buying gold coins such as Krugerrands and Sovereigns, or gold in bar form, so a brief mention here is appropriate.

Physical gold

One of the characteristics of gold that makes it an investment vehicle is the fact that it is high value for low weight, as people fleeing revolution with only one (strong) suitcase have found to their advantage. It is also very easy to store as it is very dense, consequently its weight is compacted into a small dimension. So a 400oz bar measuring, in ‘old money’, around 7x3x3 inches, is worth $340,000 (at $850/oz). If you carried the same amount of wealth in the form of copper you would need to plan for a substantial lorry to carry the 50 tonnes or so – not much good if you’re in a hurry to catch the last plane out of Saigon, for example.

Gold broadly can be bought for physical delivery or for storage in a secure warehouse. There are a number of specialist gold and gold coin dealers who will take small orders, although the bullion banks are after wealthy customers only.

Small gold, silver miners poised to close if price plunge continues – by Peter Koven (National Post – June 27, 2013)

June 27, 2013

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

Gold and silver miners are beginning to shut down money-losing mines. And if prices do not recover soon, many more are poised to close in the months ahead, in Canada and elsewhere. A vast portion of the gold industry is struggling to make any money at the current price of US$1,230 an ounce, according to analysts. While precious metal prices are plunging, costs are not falling nearly as fast.

That leaves many companies vulnerable to mine closures. The ones in the toughest positions are small miners with high costs, high debt and limited liquidity. There are several companies operating in Canada that fit that description, experts said. They include San Gold Corp., Claude Resources Inc., and Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd.

“They’re obviously in a dire position,” said Paolo Lostritto, an analyst at National Bank. “Those companies are on the higher end of the cost curve and they’re the most vulnerable.”

Senior and intermediate miners have plenty of liquidity to ride out the bear market in gold and position themselves for a recovery. But the smaller players, who lack the same economies of scale, are struggling with weak balance sheets and high sustaining and operating costs required to keep their mines running.

The misery only gets worse for Barrick Gold – by Darcy Keith (Globe and Mail – June 26, 2013)

June 27, 2013

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

The misery at Barrick Gold Corp. is only getting worse, with the stock today sinking to its lowest level in more than two decades amid plunging bullion prices and as Credit Suisse backed away from an earlier gutsy recommendation to buy its beaten-down shares.

Analyst Anita Soni downgraded Barrick to “neutral” from “outperform,” and dramatically cut her price target, as Credit Suisse lowered its price forecasts for gold. It now sees bullion averaging $1,452 (U.S.) an ounce in 2013 and $1,390 in 2014, down from earlier forecasts of $1,580 from $1,500, respectively.

But Ms. Soni also made clear it’s not just the gold price that is hurting the outlook on Barrick, but rather a “confluence” of factors that also includes uncertainty over the Pascua-Lama project, high debt levels relative to peers, and potential write-downs. These “in isolation would likely have been weathered, but in combination reduces the risk/reward profile for the company.”

“We are reducing our rating until the company provides clarity on the path for Pascua and for handling asset sales and its financial leverage,” Ms. Soni said. She expects Barrick will provide some clarity on Pascua-Lama, located on the Chilean-Argentian border, before third-quarter results are released in late October.

PRECIOUS-Gold heads for biggest quarterly loss on record – by Jan Harvey (Reuters U.S. – June 26, 2013)

June 26, 2013

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) – Gold fell to its lowest in almost three years on Wednesday, putting it on course for a record quarterly loss, as U.S. economic data increased fears the Federal Reserve will soon end ultra-loose monetary policy.

Prices could slide further – some investors saying below $1,000 per ounce – while there is little potential for data, market trends or economic developments in the United States or Europe to reverse an accelerating investor move out of gold.

Spot gold tumbled to its lowest since August 2010 at $1,223.54 an ounce and was down 3.8 percent at $1,227.86 an ounce at 1032 GMT. U.S. gold futures for August delivery were down $47.60 at $1,227.90, having hit a low of $1,223.20.

Strong gains in U.S. orders for durable goods, the largest annual rise in house prices in seven years and rising consumer confidence fuelled speculation the Fed would rein in its $85 billion monthly bond-buying programme, which had helped push gold prices to record highs in recent years.

“We bought gold for two reasons – because we were worried about the inflationary impact of policy and because we thought the financial system was going to fall apart,” Sean Corrigan, chief investment strategist at Diapason Commodities Management, said.

Vancouver mining firm Barkerville admits big error in British Columbia field’s gold estimate – by Peter Koven (Vancouver Sun – June 25, 2013)

June 26, 2013

http://www.vancouversun.com/index.html

Frank Callaghan admits it: telling investors his company held 10.6 million ounces of contained gold last year was a big mistake. “I’ve learned that lesson. Not a nice way to learn it by the way, but I did,” the chief executive of Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd. said.

Almost a year ago, Barkerville, a small junior mining company, stunned the mining community by stating its Cow Mountain project in British Columbia had an indicated resource of 10.6 million ounces of gold, and could hold up to 90 million ounces. Barkerville shares soared even though numerous experts thought the numbers were too good to be true.

One of the biggest skeptics was the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC). The regulator promptly cease traded the stock and voiced many concerns about how the data was compiled.

That put pressure on both Barkerville and Peter George, the independent geologist who calculated the resource. To address the BCSC’s concerns, Barkerville hired two consulting firms (Snowden Mining Industry Consultants and Apex Geoscience) to work with Mr. George on an updated resource estimate.

It took a long time, but they have finally finished their work. The new numbers are significantly lower, but in Mr. Callaghan’s view they prove Mr. George was on the right track.

Goldcorp – Marlin Mine: Special focus – by Will Daynes (BE Mining – June 7, 2013)

June 26, 2013

http://www.bus-ex.com/

Sustainable opportunities

While Guatemala’s enormous mining wealth is no longer the well-kept secret that it once was it is still an industry very much in its infancy. Through its Marlin Mine operations, Montana Exploradora de Guatemala, a subsidiary of the Canadian firm Goldcorp, is working to ensure the country will soon be able to unlock its potential.

Possessing a land mass of almost 109,000 square kilometres, the Central America country of Guatemala shares its borders with Mexico, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador, as well as the Pacific coastline to the Southwest and a part of the Caribbean coastline to the east.

Boasting a diverse history, a rich and distinctive culture, and areas of immense natural beauty, Guatemala has, in more recent times, become just as well known for its enormous gold potential. Indeed in 2007 one mine alone processed some 1.7 million tonnes of mineral with an average gold content of 4.55 grams per tonne and 84.31 grams of silver per tonne, further confirming the country as a mining destination of particular interest.

Possessing a stable, macroeconomic backdrop, Guatemala is fast earning a reputation as having perhaps the greatest future mining potential of any Central American country. Other factors that are helping to attract the interest of international investors include the free movement of goods and trade, and a local labour force with a reputation for being hard working, fast learners.