Good afternoon
M.Trumps verbal cold war against Germany continous...but he claims, that everybody likes him! I think he would include Melania in this comment! In any case, I believe that Putin is much easier to deal with than this fast-changing character!
Equities are stronger, as are metals, based on some possible,new talks on trade between China nd the US. Gold continues to be under pressure, while the US$ is strenghtening somewhat.
CPi as well as CPI ex Food and Energy in teh States in line withe xpectations, at 2,9)% and 2.3% resp.
Sheffield - Quarterly out today...very busy time, with some approvals coming through. The final, enviromental approval expected to be received shortly - certainly this Quarter - as well as a solution to the Native Title issue - this one rather "early in the Quarter ". 75% of all production firmly contracted now - zircon prices are rising strongly, and apparently at 1700 $ now, which is a fantastic price. I just consulted the recent RBC-report on the stock - tehy are using 1282$, going slowly to 1400. I reckon this is very conservative, in light of the shrinking zircon production from existing mines. Also, Richards bay Minerals ( RIO ), which is by far the largest zircon mine in the world, contineus to have security issues - a security guard has been killed , and the mine has been halted for a few days already. Last time something like this happened, RIO had to declare force majeur....RBC arrived at a valuation of 1.50 A$/share - that was based on remaining capital being raised at a 15% discount. If Sheffield can raise that equity from a JV-partner ( and I believe, that tehy have been talking for some time ) at say 1$, and commodity prices would be 10% higher than their base forcast ( well, that also looks entirely possible, if not probable! ), that valuation goes to 2$/share. All I know is, that I would be very happy with a bid at 1,50 A$ for the company! Once all approvals are in place, I still believe, that this is a distinct possibility. Remember, that most of teh sizeable, independent producers are gone now - Sierra Rutile about 2 years ago, and MDL takeover has been more or less completed now as well.
Lucapa Diamonds - I have not written about them for a while, and also have not been a shareholder for some time. There was too much uncertainty to be there. But this is slowly changing! They raised necessary funds for the development of their second diamond mine now, to be fully financed - Euroz raised 16 mill A$ for them at 23ct in April. This will reduce country risk, once in production - happening later this year. Production in Angola continues to recover large diamonds - the latest today with 118 ct. And exxploration at their exciting exploration asset, which delivered great results in the first round of drilling, has started again. The stock has been languishing around the current level for some time - I think tehy might have a credibility problem in the market. It might be worthwhile to join the party and accumulate stock here.
Oceanagold - strong Quarterly production report - rest coming later. Didipio had a great Quarter, which might have been due to a few one-off factors. Haile also doing well. Company is good value here - a few positive announcements recently! More detail will come with the Quarterly Report.
Have a nice evening!
WS