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[Sovereign]

Harmony will Hill 50 übernehmen:

Tuesday 11 December 6:00 PM


Harmony wants more mines win or lose Hill 50 bid

By James Regan

SYDNEY, Dec 11 (Reuters) - South Africa`s Harmony Gold Mining Co said on Tuesday it will pursue more acquisitions in Australia -- win or lose in its takeover bid for outback miner Hill 50 HFY.AX.

Harmony HARJ.J was looking to exploit new veins and dig deeper for gold in areas larger mining companies might deem too small, executive director Ted Grobicki said.

"We`ve grown Harmony by buying crumbs from the rich man`s table and we see Hill 50 having done the same," Grobicki said.

Harmony is offering A$1.35 in cash for each Hill 50 ordinary share and 65 cents for each of the listed options in Hill 50.

The off-market purchase for the mid-sized producer, valued at 1.3 billion rand (A$120 million) and which has the blessing of Hill 50`s largest shareholder and the board, would deliver a further 300,000 ounces a year to Harmony`s annual production of 2.1 million ounces.

The move extends inroads made by foreign mining companies, many from South Africa, into the Australian industry.

"South Africans want to move more of their asset base out of South Africa, to better diversify their holdings," said Eagle Research analyst Keith Goode.

Part of Australia`s appeal is the potential to develop more underground mines, something South Africans have been doing for decades. Australia mines 300 tonnes of gold a year, most from crater-like open cut deposits.

GOING UNDERGROUND

"We see a trend of more and more Australian gold production coming from underground mines," Grobicki said.

Still, Harmony`s operations in South Africa are three times the size of its Australian holdings, anchoring the company in its home base, he said.

He said the company would look at an Australian share market listing but had no plans to do so at present.

Harmony is listed on the Johannesburg, London, Paris and Brussels bourses and has a Nasdaq ADR listing.

Harmony`s bid comes amid a battle by fellow South African firm AngloGold Ltd ANGJ.J with Denver-based Newmont Mining Corp NEM.N for Normandy Mining Ltd (ASX: NDY), Australia`s largest gold miner.

AngloGold chief executive Bobby Godsell tipped his company`s desire to make a bigger mark on Australia`s goldfields after outshooting local miner Delta gold Ltd DGD.AX for Acacia Resources in 1999 and listing AngloGold shares on the local bourse.

Gold Fields Ltd GFIJ.J, South Africa`s second largest gold producer, agreed in September to pay $232 million for two Australian gold mines owned by WMC Ltd WMC.AX.

Harmony also holds interests in Australia-listed mining houses Bendigo Mining NL BDG.AX, Goldfields Ltd GLD.AX and recently purchased New Hamptons Goldfields.

Australian gold stock targets surfed the wave of bids higher on Tuesday with the index of leading gold miners rising 12.5 points, or 1.26 percent.

Hill 50 ended 18 cents higher at A$1.38, while Normandy settled three cents up at A$1.78.

Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM), with gold mines in Australia and Indonesia, gained 20.8 cents to A$3.893.

However, other leading miners retreated.

Goldfields ended one cent lower at A$2.45, while Delta Gold Ltd DGD.AX fell three cents to A$2.26.

Sons of Gwalia Ltd SGW.AX ended eight cents down at $7.37, while Lihir Gold Ltd LHG.AX was flat at A$1.16.


Und was wird Harmony wohl mit dem hedge book machen?...Natürlich glattstellen

Tuesday 11 December 2:25 PM


Harmony to unwind 1.4 mln/oz Hill 50 gold hedges

By James Regan

SYDNEY, Dec 11 (Reuters) - South Africa`s Harmony Gold Mining Co said on Tuesday it will close out 1.4 million ounces of gold hedges held by Hill 50 (ASX: HFY) if it succeeds in its takeover bid of the Australian mining house.

"We will never sell forward gold," Ted Grobicki, executive director of Harmony said. "Our investors want to be exposed to gold."

Shares in Hill 50 leapt 18 cents or 15 percent to A$1.38 on Tuesday after Harmony HARJ.J offered to pay 1.327 billion rand (A$234 million) in an off-market takeover for the company.

Harmony said it will make a cash offer of A$1.35 for each Hill 50 ordinary share and an offer of A$0.65 for each of the listed options in Hill 50.

Hill 50`s largest shareholder has agreed to accept the offer and company directors intend to recommend other shareholders do the same, Grobicki said.

Hill 50 is forecast to mine nearly 300,000 ounces in the year to June 30, 2002 from deposits in the west Australian outback.

Harmony mined 2.1 million ounces of gold in the year to June 30, all of which was sold at prevailing international spot prices, in line with the company`s no-hedge policy.

Hedging allows a company to guard against falling gold prices by selling future production at a fixed price, but it can backfire when bullion prices rise.

Some analysts believe a boom in hedging, designed to guarantee fixed selling prices for future production of gold, has placed mining companies and other investors in gold at risk if bullion prices rise too much.

PROMISE NOT TO HEDGE

Critics also charge even profitable hedges erect false price ceilings on the precious metal and blame the practice for gold`s failure to rally much in times of turmoil, most recently after the air attacks in the United States.

Many North American and some South African mining houses resist or limit hedging. But in Australia, the practice is widespread, often mandated by lenders to guarantee revenue streams.

As of September 30, hedging covered 43 percent of Australian gold reserves, Australian Gold Council figures show.

Harmony`s bid comes in the wake of a sweetened offer by U.S.-based Newmont Mining NEM.N for Australia`s largest gold miner Normandy Mining (ASX: NDY). The Newmont bid topped an existing offer from South Africa`s AngloGold ANGJ.J.

Newmont has pitched its bid to Normandy shareholders with the promise of unravelling Normandy`s nearly eight million ounces of forward gold positions to provide full exposure to any price rallies.

Like Newmont, Harmony will close out the hedges "opportunistically," Grobicki said, meaning at a profit.

AngloGold has vowed to continue hedging Normandy`s mine output.

Normandy`s board has recommended shareholders accept Newmont`s bid.

(A$1 = US$0.51)

Also werden nochmals 1,4 Mio. Oz aus dem hedge Kreislauf verschwinden! Dazu kann man 12 Mio Oz der Normandy addieren, sollte das Übernahmeangebot der Newmont glücken.
Bei Ranger Minerals werdens 0,4 Mio. Oz sein, und bei Otter Gold nochmal 0,4 Mio. Oz.

Tja Goldshorts, es wird eng...verdammt eng! Wenn`s so weitergeht werden Barrick und AngloGold bald allein auf weiter Flur stehen

Gruß

Sovereign

[Goldhotline]

Die nächsten australischen Übernahmeziele für Harmony wären demnach die neu fusionierte Croesus/Central Norseman und/oder St. Barbara.

Die Aktien der Central Norseman sind heute bei großen Umsätzen von 0,305 auf 0,33 A$ angestiegen. Central Norseman ist seit vielen Wochen unsere Topempfehlung bei den kleineren australischen Werten. Wir haben gestern unser maximales Kauflimit von 0,30 auf 0,40 A$ angehoben.

Die Goldhotline

[sturerbock]

Wie ist die Strategie von Harmony zu beurteilen?

Bisher war Harmony ungehedgt. Bei Übernahmen in AUS müssen doch die Vorwärtsverkäufe übernommen werden.

Wird Harmony dann von stark steigenden Goldpreisen überhaupt profitieren können?