George Frangeskides, Exec-Chair at Alba Mineral Resources, discusses grades at the Clogau Gold Mine. Watch the full video here.
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The Market is generally suspicious of these last minute changes so it will be interesting to see what happens to SP which appears to have been rising steadily in expectation.
Website IR says 25th Oct now.
No RNS yet - close of play?
Well this is all looking pretty strong isn't it! I was sooo close to putting in a stop loss at 18p. That would have been a disaster.
I'm just hoping this drops closer to 20p next week so I can buy some before the end of the month announcements., which I expect there will be some news on the divi which might help drive this upwards.
So it looks like 2 potentially upbeat RNSs by the end of the month - Trading Update next week (20th) and Strategy Statement thereafter.
Pskov, thanks for posting all this interview information.
– How do you see the company's future in five years? What is the level of production, profit and revenue, debt?
- Literally in a month we will be able to answer these questions more clearly. The autoclave is operating at full capacity, most likely with expansion projects either underway or in progress. At least three deposits with a long service life - Albyn, Malomyr, Pioneer with all the factories built. At least the fourth field, which is either in the process of construction or has already been completed. Five years is a sufficient time to bring another field. Stable dividend flow. Automation of production, new equipment, trained people, reduced turnover.
– And what will happen to capitalization?
- Today we are trading at a discount, respectively, this gap should be closed. We will definitely close it in five years, I think we will close it earlier. Probably, some kind of discount can be maintained due to the fact that we simply have a different resource base, i.e. the quality of stocks is slightly different. But we definitely have to close this gap. To do this, we just need to make a strategy, show the market where we are going.
– You are planning to present a development strategy. Can you tell us at least in advance about the main directions?
– We have to submit a development strategy by the end of October. Some figures are still in the approval process.
After the launch [in a year] of the third line of the flotation factory at MALOMYR, the total processing of the project will be about 6 million tons per year. Malomyr will produce more than 200,000 tons of concentrate (about 220,000 tons). pIoneer will issue 100,000-140,000 tons. And this loads our autoclave almost 100%. So according to the "Pioneer", the situation is clear, according to the "Malomyr", the situation is clear, the autoclave is loaded at 100%. "Albyn" is the only cluster that is still under development today. This is about production. The exploration strategy will continue, because the company has quite a lot of exploration assets, we don't talk much about them yet, but they are there.
There is the Tokurskoye field, which is very interesting and has already been partially explored, it is not a "green field" [not an investment from scratch], it needs to be further explored. We had three licenses in the Khabarovsk Territory, plus this year we bought back for nominal money a company that owned five more licenses in the Khabarovsk Territory. Accordingly, next year it will be necessary to do exploratory exploration there. For us, the Khabarovsk Territory is a priority from the point of view of geological exploration.
Are you planning to start paying dividends? In what time frame, what indicator can become the basis for counting dividends and in what amount will payments be calculated from this base - 50, 100%?
- There will be a dividend policy, we have started discussing it with the board of directors. The first discussion took place, everyone agrees that a dividend policy is needed. I won't get ahead of myself yet, because there are different opinions on what dividends should be based on. We looked at what our colleagues were doing. Someone pays from net profit, someone from EBITDA, someone from cash flow. I will only say that there will be a dividend policy, we plan to announce it literally at the end of October. And depending on it, we will determine when we will be able to start paying dividends and to what extent.
The company has historically had a fairly high level of debt. Are there any fears that it may pass to creditors, for example Gazprombank?
– No, there are no such concerns. Five or six years ago, everyone in the market had such concerns. But then the debt was bigger, and it was quite short, and gold prices were different. Today we have a net debt to EBITDA ratio of less than 2, in the region of 1.5 - this is a fairly comfortable level. In addition to the debt, the company had prepayments on gold, which had an interest rate. They are reflected in working capital, they are not included in the amount of net debt, but de facto it is debt. Therefore, back in 2020, Petropavlovsk decided to repay these prepayments. At the beginning of the year, these prepayments were $65 million, by the end of the year we will close this figure completely. For bonds worth $500 million, the maturity date is November 2021, this year we bought part of the bonds from the market. They made an offer for $200 million, bought out $ 136 million, left $ 364 million. With $364 million, we feel much more comfortable in terms of refinancing. This is already lifting money and for a syndicated loan, it is not necessary to go to the bond market. To date, about $120 million of unselected loans. The situation is also much more comfortable than it was at the beginning of the year. Therefore, I do not see the risk that the company will end up in the hands of creditors.
– What are the main trends in the gold market now? Are there any prerequisites for a sharp price reduction in the coming years?
– We don't see it yet. Analysts in the medium term expect the price of gold at $ 1,500 per ounce, which, in principle, is also a comfortable price. But instead of speculating about what the price will be, we need to deal with the cost. There is a proverb that the roof must be repaired while the sun is out, before the rain starts. Actually, we are fixing the roof. We understand that we are not a "pole", our margin is much smaller, and therefore we need to pay even more attention to cost, this is work efficiency
at this point the interview goes behind a paywall.
Never the less I liked what Denis had to say . No wonder the SP has started to move up.
part 4
In the second half of the year, the factory is already operating at full capacity, and we expect an increase in production in the second half of the year, which will also affect the loading of the autoclave. The first half of the year, like the whole of 2020, the autoclave operated at 50% of the load, and a significant part of them was external concentrate, in 2020 there were 140,000 tons of our own concentrate, which Malomyr produced, and the rest we bought on the market (last year bought 117,000 tons). For the first half of the year, we also worked at 50% load. In the II quarter, they came out by 60-70%. By the end of the third quarter, we expect the utilization to be above 75%. July - August we have already worked at 100%, September - at 50% capacity due to scheduled repairs, October - December we are working at 100% capacity. Since the 4th quarter of 2019, our production has been falling on a quarterly basis, but since the 2nd quarter of this year, the trend has changed - production begins to return to growth.
- What is the forecast of production results for the year? Do you expect production indicators to recover and grow relative to 2019 in 2022?
- This year we are confirming our production plans. This is 430,000–470,000 ounces, taking into account the third-party concentrate, the third-party of which is 60,000–80,000 ounces. I think that for third-party concentrate we will be closer to the lower limit, around 60,000, and for our own concentrate, this is 370,000-390,000 ounces per year, and here we will be closer to the upper limit.
For the next year. We see that Pioneer and Malomyr will produce either the same amount or slightly more. But we don't understand Albyn yet. Until we build a flotation there, we will still be in a little fever. Today, in order to supply 3.6 million tons of ore to the factory, we have to extract 9 million tons, and put the difference in the warehouse, which is money, a large amount of equipment. Optimization of mining operations may lead to a short-term drop in production at Albyn, but at the same time we are optimizing our cash flows.
You see 21% of this mater
Part III
- What is the forecast of production results for the year? Do you expect production indicators to recover and grow relative to 2019 in 2022?
- This year we are confirming our production plans. This is 430,000–470,000 ounces, taking into account the third-party concentrate, the third-party of which is 60,000–80,000 ounces. I think that for third-party concentrate we will be closer to the lower limit, around 60,000, and for our own concentrate, this is 370,000-390,000 ounces per year, and here we will be closer to the upper limit.
For the next year. We see that Pioneer and Malomyr will produce either the same amount or slightly more. But we don't understand Albyn yet. Until we build a flotation there, we will still be in a little fever. Today, in order to supply 3.6 million tons of ore to the factory, we have to extract 9 million tons, and put the difference in the warehouse, which is money, a large amount of equipment. Optimization of mining operations may lead to a short-term drop in production at Albyn, but at the same time we are optimizing our cash flows.
- Construction and launch at the end of May of a flotation plant at Pioneer. This is a very important event for Pioneer, because the deposit is at the stage when non-refractory oxidized ores are running out and there was no flotation. Pioneer is located 30 km from our autoclave and hydrometallurgical complex, so its launch was critical for this year's production.
In the second half of the year, the factory is already operating at full capacity, and we expect an increase in production in the second half of the year, which will also affect the loading of the autoclave. Per
continued.
since the margin on third-party concentrate is less - about 10%, and on our own concentrate - about 50%. (Petropavlovsk is recovering gold at the Pokrovsky Autoclave and Hydrometallurgical Combine (AGK) with processing of 500,000 tons of concentrate per year; 15 million tons of ore per year). - Vedomosti.)
In production, of course, there is a big drop. Last year there was a batch of very rich third-party concentrate, [with a gold grade] of about 100 g per ton, and for the whole year, on average, in my opinion, we got 60 g per ton, and this year the maximum we have with market, 30–31 g per ton.
Another reason for the drop in production is the Albyn project. The Albyn deposit (the Albyn project also includes the Elginskoye and Unglichikanskoye deposits. - Vedomosti) was mined in Q4 2020. At Albyn, there was oxide ore with very good recovery. The 3.6 Mtpa plant, which was built for this oxide ore, was operating at full capacity, and Albyn had the lowest costs in the group. Now we have moved on to the development of the neighboring deposit - Elginsky, it is 36 km away, and there the ores are completely different - refractory and semi-refractory with a gold grade of about 1 g per ton and significantly lower recovery - 75–78%. Now Albyn is showing a sharp drop in production and an increase in costs, and we saw this in the first half of the year.
Pioneer and Malomyr worked more or less normally at the level of last year.
- What other production tasks did you have to solve?
- Construction and launch at the end of May of a flotation plant at Pioneer. This is a very important event for Pioneer, because the deposit is at the stage when non-refractory oxidized ores are running out and there was no flotation. Pioneer is located 30 km from our autoclave and hydrometallurgical complex, so its launch was critical for this year's production.
In the second half of the year, the factory is already operating at full capacity, and we expect an increase in production in the second half of the year, which will also affect the loading of the autoclave. The first half of the year, like the whole of 2020, the autoclave operated at 50% of the load, and a significant part of them was external concentrate, in 2020 there were 140,000 tons of our own concentrate, which Malomyr produced, and the rest we bought on the market (last year bought 117,000 tons). For the first half of the year, we also worked at 50% load. In the II quarter, they came out by 60-70%. By the end of the third quarter, we expect the utilization to be above 75%. July - August we have already worked at 100%, September - at 50% capacity due to scheduled repairs, October - December we are working at 100% capacity. Since the 4th quarter of 2019, our production has been falling on a quarterly basis, but since the 2nd quarter of this year, the trend has changed - production begins to return to growth.
- What is the forecast of production results for the year? Do you expect productio
Thanks, Lawrence.
Gold prices in 2021 are in the range of $ 1700-1800 per troy ounce, which is a historically high level (gold was more expensive only in 2020, when the price exceeded $ 2000). There are less and less alluvial gold deposits in the world and more and more actively involved in the development of refractory ore deposits that require special mining technologies. Against this background, the gold mining company Petropavlovsk plans to present a new development strategy by the end of October. The new management of the company, which regularly changed shareholders and periodically flared up corporate scandals, seeks to stabilize production activities and resume the payment of dividends.
Denis Aleksandrov, who headed Petropavlovsk at the end of last year, in an interview with Vedomosti talks about the company's strategy, the fate of the deal to sell a stake in the iron ore company IRC and a possible rebranding.
- You came to the company at a difficult time in terms of management. Tell us what difficulties you faced, what have you already managed to change?
- Indeed, the period was not easy, there was a lot of noise in the press around Petropavlovsk for the last few years. Over the past 4-5 years, the main shareholder has changed four times in the company. When we joined the company in December, the team had a very wary attitude. And the first task was to convince the team that we did not come here to rob the company, not to sell it piece by piece, not to fire everyone and everything, but came to build, with plans and hopes that the company would develop further. We managed to do it, the collective believed in us as a whole. Then work began on a comprehensive audit. We have completely restructured the Moscow office, now we are in the process of the Annunciation office. Today all lines of control have become clear. Then we started looking at contracts. There were a lot of intermediaries, the purchase was not from direct suppliers. We got rid of intermediaries, “straightened out” contracts, signed long-term contracts somewhere, revised the capital expenditure program. Some employees were fired for violating the rules of ethics in the procurement procedures, with someone we are currently suing. In the first six months, we reduced capital and operating costs by approximately $ 26 million.
- What is the reason for the drop in the company's production indicators in the first half of the year?
- [Gold] concentrate has become a serious problem. In 2020, the contracting window, which usually falls in September-October, was skipped, and when we joined the company, we only had 40,000 tons of external concentrate contracted, while 80,000 tons were needed. Therefore, the search for concentrate began. on the market. To date, we have contracted our 80,000 tons. We even contracted a concentrate from Greece - this is probably our first experience with foreign concentrate, if we do not take into account the Kazakh concentrate. We did not lose much in terms of money
Translation ?
interview
https://www.vedomosti.ru/business/characters/2021/10/11/890708-eksporta-zolota
No - can’t see it.
Looks like the irc deal is going ahead then at 10 million , some of the interview is positive though we might even hear some dividend talk soon
Someone has the text of interview on advfn chat. Scroll down to see!
Any chance you could relay the gist of the interviews - tried without success to access advfn (as usual).
Thanks
Just noticed a couple of interviews with Alecsandrov Ceo POG, on advfn, well worth a viewing regarding production and IRC, looks good to me for the coming year and stratergy looks good.