During the fourth quarter of 2012, consolidated gold production was 219,316 ounces, including 189,438 ounces of gold produced by the Kumtor mine and 29,878 ounces of gold produced by the Boroo mine.

Ian Atkinson, President and CEO of Centerra stated, “The Boroo operation performed well in the fourth quarter, exceeding our gold production forecast for the year by about 7,000 ounces.”

“The Kumtor deposit and included a 58% increase in proven and probable reserves to a total of 9.7 million contained ounces. Just as important, the new plan is expected to deliver consistent annual gold production averaging 650,000 ounces per year for next ten years,” Ian Atkinson, President and CEO of Centerra said.

“We continue to focus on our exploration and business development efforts as we look for additional operating platforms in an effort to increase our future gold production, diversify our regions of operation and help us achieve our goal of producing 1.5 million ounces of gold annually,” Ian Atkinson, President and CEO of Centerra said.

African Barrick Gold

African Barrick Gold

“Whilst the discussions between CNG and Barrick have not led to a transaction, the process has re-emphasised the fundamental long-term value of ABG’s portfolio and the scarcity of large scale producing opportunities to enter the gold market in Africa,“ CEO of ABG, Greg Hawkins, said.

“These discussions were part of our ongoing efforts to identify opportunities to optimize our portfolio, however we are approaching this in a prudent and disciplined manner and will only proceed with opportunities that generate acceptable value for Barrick,” said Jamie Sokalsky , President and Chief Executive Officer. “African Barrick Gold’s assets hold significant potential, and we will continue to look for ways to best realize that value for our shareholders.”

HIGHLIGHT:

• Discussions between Barrick and CNG ended
• ABG no longer in offer period
• Operational Review initiated
• 2011 total dividend of US$67 million to be maintained for 2012

Barrick continues to implement a disciplined capital allocation framework focused on maximizing returns and free cash flow. As part of this process, the company is evaluating its entire portfolio against these criteria.

Source: www.barrickgold.com & www.africanbarrickgold.com

The Toronto-based Centerra in March forecast production of 390,000 to 410,000 ounces this year, down from its previous estimate of 575,000 to 625,000 ounces. Kumtor accounted for over 90 percent of the 583,156 ounces the company produced last year.

The company announced that the Kyrgyz Parliament held a session today to discuss a report released on June 18, 2012 by a Parliamentary Commission regarding Centerra’s Kumtor gold project. The Commission was established to review Kumtor’s compliance with relevant operational, environmental, health and safety and community standards.

Centerra’s President and CEO, Ian Atkinson, commented: “The report is more than 300 pages and we have not yet completed our detailed review. The report makes a number of allegations including claims of substantial environmental damage by Kumtor. Judging from its summary conclusions, however, Centerra believes that the report’s findings are without merit.”

“The Kumtor project has been operating without interruption since 1997. The project is in full compliance with Kyrgyz laws, meets or exceeds Kyrgyz and international environmental, safety and health standards, and serves as a model for other mining projects in the Kyrgyz Republic and internationally. It has been the subject of systematic compliance audits by both Kyrgyz and international experts, who have confirmed its high level of performance.”

The Kyrgyz Parliament is continuing today to discuss the report. Centerra is not able at this time to comment on the likely outcome of those discussions but will do so as and when appropriate.

In 2009, Centerra, Kumtor and the Kyrgyz Republic signed comprehensive agreements governing all aspects of the project (the New Agreements). The New Agreements were approved by all relevant Kyrgyz governmental authorities, including the Kyrgyz Parliament and the Constitutional Court, and form a solid foundation for the successful operation of the project.

Kumtor is a significant employer and tax-payer in the Kyrgyz Republic and a key contributor to the Kyrgyz economy generally. The company has benefited from a close and constructive dialogue with the Kyrgyz authorities over many years and remains committed to continuing to work with them to resolve any issues in accordance the New Agreements.

Additional information on Centerra is available on the Company’s website at www.centerragold.com and at SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

The world’s largest aluminum producer Rusal has completed a deal with the leading Export-Import Bank of China to develop a $850 million greenfield project in Eastern Siberia.

The agreement was signed by Rusal’s First Deputy CEO Vladislav Solovyev and China Eximbank Vice President Liange Liu.

Rusal and China Eximbank are going to finance the construction of a new anode factory in the Irkutsk Region. Anodes are used in the electrolysis process to produce aluminum.

The plant will supply Rusal’s aluminum smelters in Eastern Siberia which are able to meet China’s growing demand for aluminum, Rusal said in a statement. With the new plant located close to its key consumers Rusal plans to shorten the supply chain and to cut costs.

Rusal needs to reduce costs this year due to the falling prices. Aluminum prices ended at 18-month lows last year on concerns about weakening global demand for the metal.

This forced Rusal as well as other producers to cut output by about 1.3 million tonnes of since December 2011.

Meanwhile Rusal is interested in boosting cooperation with China hoping China’s consumption would help to recover the aluminum market by 2013, if it also cuts production.

“All producers should take responsibility for decisions on production volumes and more actively cut unprofitable production,” Oleg Mukhamedshin, Rusal’s  head of equity and corporate development told Reuters. ”This particularly suggests China.”

Source: rt.com

Gold Fields in March increased its shareholding in [gold and copper prospect in the Philippines] Far Southeast to 40% – for which it had paid $230m in total – and has the option to acquire an additional 20% stake for $110m. The project’s holding company is in the process of measuring the resource Far Southeast, that may be similar in scale to Harmony Gold’s much acclaimed Wafi-Golpu resource in Papua New Guinea.

The fourth-largest producer of the metal target’s 3.5 million ounces in 2012, compared with a previous range of 3.5 million to 3.7 million ounces, Chief Executive Officer Nick Holland said today in an interview in Johannesburg.

“Instead of being somewhere in the range, we think now we’re going to be at the bottom of the range,” he said.

March 2012 quarter salient features:

• Group attributable equivalent gold production of 827,000 ounces;
• Total cash cost of US$870 per ounce;
• Operating margin of 48 per cent and NCE margin of 24 per cent; and
• Project pipeline continues to advance.

Tommy McKeith, Head of Growth and International Projects at Gold Fields, said the porphyry system project has an exploration target of 900 million tonnes (Mt) with a gold equivalent metal content of over 50 million ounces. As in the case of Wafi-Golpu, the resource contains copper as co-product.

“That’s our target,” McKeith said. “This porphyry is a kilometre in diameter so it’s a big porphyry system and very high grade as far as these systems go. It is how big you want it to be.

“That exploration target will be more than adequate for us to commit to a capital programme for a big mining operation.”

Drawing a comparison to Harmony Gold’s Wafi-Golpu project in Papua New Guinea, McKeith said Far Southeast was “very similar in scale to the resource they [Harmony] have announced”.

“But ours is still a target, it is not a resource,” he said.

Harmony Gold has labelled its Wafi-Golpu joint venture as a game changer with a measured resource base of more than one billion tonnes.

The project is currently in the pre-feasibility phase, with a capex estimate ranging between $3bn and $5bn.

Gold Fields, meanwhile, would be following the regulatory process necessary for foreign mining companies to become majority shareholders in Filipino mining projects prior to acquiring the additional 20% stake.

McKeith said Far Southeast would form part of Gold Fields’ target of achieving five million ounces per year, either production or in development, by the end of 2015. For 2012, the company has a production guidance of 3.5 million ounces.

McKeith said the expansion of South Deep to 700,000oz per year would add an additional contribution of 400,000 oz to the group’s annual output.

A feasibility study at Chucapaca, a joint venture project in Peru, is due to be completed later this year and is expected to add another 250,000oz to 300,000oz to the Gold Fields profile.

“Hopefully we’ll have Arctic Platinum (in Finland) and Far Southeast in development at that stage,” McKeith said. “Those ounces will easily take us past the five million ounces target.”

McKeith said all of Gold Fields growth projects would be high margin operations and provide “a much bigger cushion to protect ourselves in lower gold price environment”.

He said Chucapaca would have similar cost perimeters to Cerro Corona, Gold Fields’ other operation in Peru. The mine, which also produces copper as a co-product, recorded total cash costs of $534/oz during the March-quarter.

“Our product is gold and our core business is to find and mine gold. While we are happy to mine any other metal or mineral that one often finds together with gold, such as copper, uranium or silver, our main business is gold mining.”   GOLD Fields said

FULL REPORT: [ goldfields.co.za ]

Source: [ miningmx.com ]

The shares were bought from Liberty Express Assets, making it a partner now with long-standing Philippines investor, Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company, with whom it has the option to buy another 20% in Far Southeast Project.

Reuters, citing sources, reported in September last year that the project could see Gold Fields invest some R2bn developing the project. Gold Fields has said it’s too early to allocate capital budgets for a project in which there is no official resource statement at present.

However, the South Africans said due diligence results had been “positive” to date and demonstrated “significant upside to the resource potential”.

It was partly owing to resource confidence that Gold Fields secured a direct stake in the project ahead of receiving a mining licence, known in the Philippines as a Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA). The FTAA, which enables foreign- owned companies to take a majority stake in local assets, was expected to be granted in the second half of 2012, Gold Fields said.

“Gold Fields also expects to have a maiden resource statement for Far Southeast and commence a pre-feasibility study later this year,” it said.
“We are extremely pleased that we now own a 40% interest in Far Southeast, not just an option,” said Holland.

The project is in the northern part of the country’s main Luzon island, and Gold Fields said it “has ready access to established infrastructure, including roads, tailings facilities, power and water”.

Source: http://www.miningmx.com/news/gold_and_silver/Gold-Fields-expedites-$340m-Philippines-deal.htm

Not Buffet personally, but IMC International Metalworking Companies, a unit of Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway.

Woulfe owns the former Sandong tungsten mine that was closed in 1992 due to low metal prices. It has since brought the project to the advanced exploration stage, commissioning a scoping study in 2010 and a feasibility study that is due out this year.

The deal between the two companies has IMC buying a 25% in Sandong for $35 million. IMC will advance $5 million to Woulfe as soon as the deal closes. Then IMC and Woulfe will form a 55:45 joint venture to build an ammonium paratungstate (APT) in Korea. They will invest $19.25 million and $15.75 million, respectively, in the plant. IMC has agreed to loan Woulfe the money for its share of the plant expenses (if Woulfe so desires) and to buy between 90% and 100% of the APT production.

Woulfe has set a production target for Q4 2012. Please visit WoulfeMining.com.

LONDON

Meanwhile, the country has been importing record amounts of gold as well with the volumes coming in through Hong Kong, which are officially reported figures, climbing to over 100 tonnes in November – and by all accounts gold purchasing in China has been booming since then, so imports are likely to have remained at this kind of level in December and January as well.  Estimates have suggested that China’s total gold imports for 2011 will have been some 490 tonnes – double that of 2010, but this may well be an under-estimate, possibly a substantial one.

But because Chinese total figures on imports and demand are actually obscured nobody really knows the true situation, except perhaps the Chinese government.  Export of gold is not allowed so total Chinese production (as noted above at around 361 tonnes) is going somewhere.  The question is, is it going into Chinese industrial, investment and jewellery demand, or is all this being catered for by the imports?

There is thus a strong suggestion that Chinese gold production is, in fact, all going into the country’s gold reserves which are only reported sporadically, and the last official pronouncement on this was that reserves totalled 1054 tonnes – back in 2008 – and this was nearly double the amount previously reported five years earlier at 600 tonnes.  If China is indeed putting all its domestic production into its reserves then these could now well be at 2,000 tonnes or more – but even this is still a small fraction of China’s total monetary reserves and there certainly has been internal discussion in China that the proportion of gold in its reserves should be much higher.

The argument stands that China is increasing its gold reserves surreptitiously because if it were confirmed officially that it was adding say 300 tonnes or more to its reserves annually (i.e. the amount of domestic gold production) this would have a strong upward impact on the gold price and make it more expensive to add further amounts of gold, in part in place of its huge trillion dollar holdings of U.S. Treasuries.  Whether this policy of not reporting its official reserves will continue will almost certainly depend on political expediency – and there’s no guarantee that if they are reported at some point in the future they will be the true figure anyway.  So the speculation on this will continue.

Of course, to add to the speculation is a proportion of the huge imports we have been seeing recently also going into official reserves?    Ross Norman of Sharps Pixley in London  is quoted as saying “Anecdotally we see that gold is repeatedly well supported on any dip and it is clear there is a large buyer in the market. It is difficult to ascribe a name and location to that buyer but we would not be surprised to hear that the Chinese have indeed been good buyers of gold by stealth once again.”

This would support internal comments in China.  Forbes of the U.S. recently noted  that the People’s Bank of China, the central bank, has been hinting that it is purchasing. “No asset is safe now,” said the PBOC’s Zhang Jianhua at the end of last month. “The only choice to hedge risks is to hold hard currency – gold.” He also said it was smart strategy to buy on market dips. Analysts naturally jumped on his comment as proof that China, the world’s fifth-largest holder of the metal, is in the market for more.

While the Forbes columnist suggested that Chinese official gold purchasing was actually unlikely, for a number of reasons – (Click here for full article) other observers are convinced otherwise with the view that the Chinese play a long game and the building of Chinese gold reserves is part of a path to the internationalisation of the Renminbi and ultimately the replacement of the US Dollar as the global reserve currency which they see as giving the U.S. huge advantages in global trade.

Source: mineweb.com