The latest Investing Matters Podcast with Jean Roche, Co-Manager of Schroder UK Mid Cap Investment Trust has just been released. Listen here.
Looking a little rosier today up 7% with gold flashing a dollar shy of $1980/oz
You're dribbling again. Must be all that Russian tonic..
Small caps like AAU, GDP and AEX are moving up at a rate this month, GCAT finally showing signs of life!
Glorious rise here today leading the pack and AEX not far behind :)
As expected Polymetal can't even afford to pay it's dividend contrary to what all those angry little Russian g00ns have been bleating about these past few weeks..
"significant changes in operating conditions"
"mounting uncertainty with availability of funds"
"higher working capital needs as a result of liquidity crunch"
"supply chain limitations"
"balance sheet constraints imposed by lower credit availability"
"significantly higher cost of funding"
"it is no longer appropriate to recommend or declare the 2021 final dividend"
Just wait til August folks, you're only down 90%, Putin's army of Z heads are only down 20,000 so there's plenty more red days ahead.
Clare Daly knows nothing about what she speak.
Advocating total surrender to the Russian occupiers would mean leave ALL Ukrainians at the mercy of Russia's fascist government.. the same people who imprison tens of thousands of protesters and silence all political opposition.
Ukraine would inevitably cease to exist as an independent, democratic state. More to the point it would give Russia a green light to launch it's next war .. sorry "special military operation".. into neighbouring Baltic states, specifically non-NATO Finland and Moldova. Clare Daly will have her Russian sponsored 'peace' at least until then.
Economic sanctions are working and will continue to make a greater impact as the EU member states ween themselves off the Russian gas and oil. It would be more painful for them if they were 'forced' to give up all imports, either through a complete ban or Russia turning off the taps, but certainly the next 12-24 months will see a collapse of Russian exported gas to Western Europe.
As for the Russian people I feel bad for the few who have tried to resist. The rest deserve to feel the full effects of biting sanctions given the vast majority are in favour of maintaining the status quo and likely support Russian military aggression abroad (whether or not they truly believe the Russian state sponsored disinformation).
The sooner they take action the sooner Russia returns to the fold. Otherwise they face indefinite isolation.
Most gold producers have added 30%+ in recent weeks and today are moving higher with gold trading at $1965. Disconnect here looks even more obvious today.
Last we heard Syama gold production was "on target for the March quarter" following the completion of the Syama sulphide plant works and performance of the sulphide plant will be more consistent in future quarters. Consistency is one of issues Resolute have struggled with and no doubt discounted in the market valuation so improvements should (in time) appeal to the more risk averse.
Resolute's Chief Operating Officer, Mr Terry Holohan commented: "I would like to thank all of our employees and contractors within the Projects and Maintenance departments, as well as the support teams, who have contributed to the safe and successful completion of this significant $7.5m enhancement project. From the early stages of planning, incorporating all the innovative design improvements and challenging logistics through to final delivery, the work performed reflects a highly competent and professional team. The team have successfully met all of our operational requirements while having to deal with a number of external factors, including COVID-19, unseasonal weather and political disruption to deliver a safe and high-quality project for Resolute."
"I believe that we now have all the tools in place to significantly extend the campaign life of the Roaster going forward. The entire sulphide processing circuit has now had a long overdue refurbishment which supports delivery of Resolute's 2022 production targets, full tie-in of key improvement initiatives implemented in 2021 to provide a strong basis for further enhancements to the circuit."
Markets have at last reacted favourably to the buy back programme, albeit the extension of it. The initial parameters were too small in scale so it's encouraging to see the Board have reacted by extending the purchase of cheap shares.
£200,000 worth of shares that may be bought between now and end of June will underpin 8p in the weeks ahead. A further extension of the buy back programme into July onwards remains possible also
Pan African Resources: Quietly getting the job done in South Africa
Pan African produced 108,085oz gold in H122 (at an all-in sustaining cost (AISC) of US$1,173/oz), which was 4.5% more than in H221, 9.9% more than H121 and 8.1% above its (albeit increased) pro rata guidance of 200,000oz for the full year. Performance was driven by an exceptional result underground at Evander, which reported record adjusted EBITDA for the period in which it has been under Pan African’s management, thereby becoming the largest single contributor to group adjusted EBITDA (see Exhibit 2). Even allowing for a slowdown in output in H222, we expect Pan African to outperform its guidance and have modestly increased our earnings forecasts for FY22 as a result.
London blocks sale of new Russian platinum and palladium
The price of palladium jumped by more than 10 per cent on Friday after newly produced Russian metal was effectively banned from trading in London, the world’s biggest market for precious metals.
The London Platinum and Palladium Market said it would suspend with “immediate” effect the two state-owned Russian refiners it has accredited — JSC Krastsvetmet and the Prioksky Plant of Non-Ferrous Metal.
The LPPM polices the London market by accrediting refineries on its “good delivery list”.
It cited “events taking place in Ukraine” as the reason for its decision to remove the two Russian refiners.
The move adds to a growing list of measures against Russian industry and business.
The London Bullion Market Association recently revoked the accreditation of six Russian gold refiners, effectively blocking their ability to trade gold and silver in London.
On Friday, the EU formally adopted its fifth package of sanctions including bans on the import of Russian coal, wood, chemicals and other products.
Palladium and sister metal platinum are used by carmakers to reduce harmful emission from exhaust systems.
Russia produces about 40 per cent of the world’s palladium and about 15 per cent of its platinum, the majority of which is supplied by mining company Norilsk.
Palladium rose 10 per cent to above $2,480 an ounce, while platinum gained 1.5 per cent to $977 an ounce.
The LPPM said it would not accredit any platinum of palladium produced by the two Russian refiners after April 8.
Second time today, no online quote, over the phone only. Possibly about to move the ask up again.
Unsurprisingly moving back up, nothing has changed except the need for building materials has increased in the region. Possibly just vultures picking up cheap stock, but will be interesting if news follows
CEO buying could help certainly, Klingenberg is most qualified on the financial side of things. But then again one of the directors already holds about 28% which will increase to almost 29% following completion of the circa 3 million shares buy back.
The decision to buy back shares likely encouraged by our largest holder and director Martin Ooi. The website states he "intends to focus on capital allocation decisions and helping to maximise the per-share intrinsic value of the company". A regular dividend while better for shareholders works against his intention to build value in the share price so I'm guessing future dividends will remain low, yielding 1-2% at least this year anyway. Hope I am wrong about that.
Azerbaijan ready for peace talks with Armenia amid new tensions
Baku responds to Yerevan’s call for negotiation of a comprehensive peace treaty amid new tensions over the long-contested enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/29/azerbaijan-ready-for-peace-talks-with-armenia-amid-new-tensions
Share buyback isn't going to last long at this rate! 700k shares (£50k) today and the limit is approx £200k. To spark a reaction here they may want to raise the buyback limit to £500k and pace themselves over months rather than days..
Time to be brave here in the lead up to Q1 results, gold price trading up at $1965/oz and possibility of Mali sanctions easing.
West African court orders lifting of some sanctions against Mali
BAMAKO, March 24 (Reuters) - The court of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) on Thursday ordered the suspension of the eight-nation body's sanctions against Mali, imposed in January after the junta delayed elections.
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/w-african-court-orders-suspension-some-sanctions-against-mali-2022-03-24/
Are Western Tethyan Resources in receipt of licences? The latest information I have found suggests WTR are awaiting approval of the exploration licence applications.
https://www.westerntethyanresources.com/projects/kosovo
Western Tethyan Resources Ltd is a UK registered, Kosovo-domiciled company holding exploration licence applications in Kosovo through its wholly-owned subsidiary Kosovo Mineral Resources LLC (“KMR”).
The company is currently focused on exploration for major copper-gold deposits in the Lecce Magmatic Complex and Vardar Belt. The company is assessing several other exploration project opportunities across Eastern Europe, targeting major copper-gold deposits across the porphyry-epithermal transition. Countries in which project opportunities are being assessed include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia. It is the intention of the company to progress to drill testing its projects within the shortest possible timeframe.
There are three license applications (Terpeza, Hertica and Cecelia) covering 151km2, that have been submitted and are under final review by the mining agency in Kosovo (ICMM). The licence applications are located about 25km to the north-east of the capital of Kosovo, Pristina.
Well that was unexpected! Clearly there is something more to WTR's licences than we are aware of. The initial sums are small but the thought Newmont is sniffing around a tiddly company like Ariana provides reason for optimism. This may be a precursor to a takeover of Zenit if that is Newmont's objective. Wishful think perhaps but it's not uncommon for larger companies to 'help' new ventures if only to get their foot in the door. This is speculation so take the above with a pinch of salt.
https://www.miningweekly.com/article/newmont-enters-europe-alliance-with-ariana-and-wtr-2022-03-24
US-based gold major Newmont has entered an exploration alliance with Ariana Resources, which owns gold mining interests in Europe.
The alliance will focus on copper and gold exploration within Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia, using teams established by Ariana’s 75%-owned Western Tethyan Resources (WTR).
Newmont would invest $2.5-million in Ariana, based on a 10% premium to a 30-day volume-weighted average price to enable the funding of the alliance’s activities, in addition to providing access to Newmont’s regional database.
The alliance between Newmont, Ariana and WTR would run for an initial five years.
I agree with the view sector wide weakness is widespread and not just localised around Russia. Some of the major miners mentioned below have rallied in recent weeks including Glencore and Blackrock's Mining fund. Others still seem depressed (Pan African, Johnson Matthey, Resolute Mining, Wheaton, Hochschild, Fresnillo, Centamin) in comparison to where precious metals are trading, perhaps owing to fears of rising costs and how margins will come under pressure this year.
I share Adam's optimism holding these producers with a view that when tensions do ease, all of these stocks stand to make huge gains, similar to the excitement following the 2008 banking crisis. Precious metals and metals required for the green economy (lithium, vanadium, copper etc) will be in high demand. Crypto currencies could face increasing scrutiny from Western governments as they provide Russia an easy avenue to evade sanctions and the USD monopoly.
LeviStubbs - Agreed there's a sizeable sum of cash doing nothing except collecting 5-10% interest but without further details that could be wiped out by foreign exchange movements depending on where it's kept. Some of the cash pile is for our next dividend of course and the one after that but it's not the reason most of us invested here.
I agree with others on here that it's hard to justify the divestment away from Zenit just when production was paying off. Faster growth through a more diversified approach may still come as Zenit took almost a decade to really come good. Ariana stand to benefit from numerous growth opportunities and retain multi-million payouts from their initial investment. Could investment into cash strapped tiddlers offer better growth in the years ahead? That seems to be play. And moving into copper despite the shine of gold.
I'm playing devil's advocate here as I am more interested in discussing where Ariana will be in 6-12 months time rather than where Ariana COULD have been had the Board not reduced our Turkish holding to 23.5%