Good afternoon
exciting times! The Redditt-boys are creating havoc fro some and it´s an interesting movement to watch - but I do not believe, that this is big enough to create some real trouble. But you never know, how many people will start playing these things! It is unbelievable for me, that TRump had an approval rate of 34% even at the very end of his presidency - who knows, how crazy these crazy Americans will get in the end! Certainly something to watch! In any case, they have managed to push silver up by 15% or so!
PMI in China was still expansionary, but weaker tha expected…lossing some momentum on exports. Japan also not good - rest of Asia much better. China injected some more liquidity into it´s systems.
Western Australia orders a 5-day lockdown - a security guy caught the virus and his 60 contacts are being traced. Australia had 8 new cases today - ming relatively unaffected, as it´s essential business.
Navalny protests in Russia are gaining more numbers…brave people!
A little bit of selling around for copper and zinc - but nickel is up by 1%, and gold is up strongly to a current 1866 US$ - probably in sympathy with silver.
J.P Morgan expect 1,7 mill EV´s this year in China - + 41%….I guess Europe will see at least a similar increase, probably much more!
a few important Quarterlies last week:
Evolution - production of 180.000 oz was better than expected, and costs were a very low 1166 A$ AISC. All-In costs of 1.582 A$/oz ( that is basically everything incl exploration, but before headoffice ) are excellent!! Their large contributors Cowal, Ernest Henry are doing very well - the small mine Carlton is disappointing and could be sold one day? For now, they are trying to get it going again -I think it will depend on more exploration success at their recently aquired Crush Creek property nearby. They left guidance of 670-730.000 for the full year, at 1240-1300 A$ AISC unchanged, which looks very conservative to me on the cost side. EVN had group cash flow of 99 mill A$ in the Quarter, which reconciles well with a nebt debt reduction of 93 mill A$ to only 86 mill A$. Red Lake transformation is progressing well - they will achieve the first target of 200.000 oz p.a. at leass than 1000 US$/oz early. The big thing for EVN remains the potential expansion of this asset to 300-500.000oz in the long run. First test of this target will come with the reserve increase , expected later this Quarter. I am expecting a big number vs the reserve of 1.2-1.4 mill oz at the time of aquisition. The Quarterly shows once again, why I believe, that EVN are Australia´s best gold miner…
OZ Minerals - also had a strong Quarter, with copper- as well as gold production exceeding guidance. The Prominent Hill-complex incl Carapateena is doing very well! AISC of 0,57 US$/lb copper are excellent! The Brazilian assets - which are small - continue to be difficult. OZ Minerals will continue to be the prime copper producer in Australia for institutional investors!
Western Areas - reported an even weaker Quarterly than the previous one! Despite the positive nickel price, I think they are making very little money currently. Reporting of the company is not very good -so it´s hard to find out how much money excatly they made, after accounting for development expenditure on their new mine, Cosmos. But after head office and exploration, it´s probably just 2-3 mill A$. I would like to be more positive, as they are the potential predator of Panoramic, of which they own 19.9%. But I do not like what I see here!
Horizon Gold - excellent Quarterly! Drilling results - so far not released - included 29m with 9g, 9m with 12,7g/12m with 7,4g / 21.m with 2,8g and 8m with 7g from Swift ( previous open cut resources so far 840.000t at 7,2g for 195.000 oz ) and 17m with 3,7g and 24m with 2,7g from Swan North ( previous open cut resource of 960.000t at 7g for 216.000 oz ). Especially Swift should see a potential increase in resources. The immidiate aim is to increase inferred resources to the indicated status, to enable public reporting on scoping/feasibility studies. The company has also initiated a complete review of all geological data, which has established multiple near term targets for more gold mineralisation. Once a complete review has been finished, the company will report on this in the coming weeks. The stock is very cheap at current gold prices, and I am holding a large position despite the corporate governance concerns I have.
Have a nice evening!
WS