Good afternoon
base metals are edging a little higher toady, but have clearly been shaken over the last few weeks, as a prime target to bet on trade sanctions and tariffs on the downside.
Escondida unions reject pay offer...the dispute has to be settled by tomorrow - but not sure, how it would go from there. Antofagasta´s largest mine has been blocked over the last 24 hours by protesters. We have seen very little mine disruption in the first half - that could change!
Newcrest reports no damage from a "seismic event" of 3.8 at Cadia, their most important mine. I can only reiterate - Newcrest should not trade at a premium! In fact, it would not be too hard to justify a discount - one mine in Indonesia, one in PNG, one with questions over the longer term future ( Telfer ) and one with repeated seismic events ( Cadia ).
West African - has been awarded a new mining permit for it´s planned mine in Burkina.Banking syndicate expected to be announced at the end of this year, after updating resources late this Quarter, and a M5 underground scoping study. Early construction of the project has started, and the final report of the Enviromental And Social Impact Study will be submitted in August. The company has also established numbers of people to be relocated - only 704 people, which looks very managable
Doray - released a positive , new Life Of Mine study. Mine life extended to 2022, and 43% more gold prduction.The new Da Vinci high grade shoot is not included in this number. Average gold production will be 85.000 oz p.a., and AISC will a verage 1070 A$/oz vs previously 1171A$.I think one has to add about 200 A$ for total costs - so cash generation has significantly improved, but is still relatively low at approx 20 mill A$ pre tax p.a.. A new, 10 mill A$ exploration budget for this year looks promising - but success is also needed to justify the current market cap of 175 Mill A$.
Have a nice evning
WS