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[Arhaes]

Bitte stellt doch einmal alle Nachrichten

uber Reduzierung


der Hedge - Buecher

einzelner Goldminen hier rein,

um einen besseren Ueberblick zu bekommen,

DANKE

[Arhaes]

Newmont`s dire hedging prediction comes true

By: Tim Wood


Posted: 2002/05/15 Wed 19:00 | © Miningweb 1997-2002


Corrections: The original article transposed income statement for balance sheet in the second paragraph. It should also be noted that the value of all derivative instruments inherited from Normandy appreciated in value between the date of closure (15 Feb) and the quarter end. AngloGold`s net hedging loss at end March was $495m, not $71m as reported.

PRINCETON, New Jersey -- The gold business may be short on profits, but not irony. After crusading against gold hedging during the unruly takeover war for Australia`s Normandy, Newmont [NEM] now sits with a massive loss on its acquired hedge book – exactly what it warned would happen to rivals.

There are not too many people who expected Newmont to report a hedging loss - $411 million as at the end of March and equal to nearly all Newmont`s cash. The figure is recorded on the balance sheet, but is unrealised so does not affect cash earnings.

The more heavily hedged AngloGold had an unrealised hedging loss of $495 million at the end of the first quarter when the gold price.

Newmont`s uncompromising attitude on hedging is at odds with the Normandy book that it has retained despite the market being led to believe it would be liquidated at the earliest opportunity. Reality made clearing 8 million odd ounces – bound up in watertight counterparty contracts – all but impossible and Newmont has now defaulted to winding up the book in an "orderly and timely" manner.

7.3 million ounces remain trapped by hedging, or roughly 8 per cent of Newmont`s proven and probable reserves. That leaves the company a long way out of the hedging big league, but neither is it insignificant at nearly a full-year`s production.

Rivals AngloGold and Barrick [ABX] have around 19 and 29 per cent respectively of total reserves covered by hedging; equivalent to around three and four years of estimated 2002 production respectively.

So far, AngloGold has proved to have the most flexible hedge book of the majors, closing out nearly five million ounces in the least half year, 1.7 million of those in the quarter to end March. Newmont could only liquidate 250,000 ounces in the first quarter.

Newmont president Pierre Lassonde says the hedge book is Australian dollar denominated so further strengthening in that currency against the US dollar should ease losses.

One bit of information the company provided, but which others haven`t disclosed as clearly yet, illustrates some of the obfuscation used in reporting hedging proceeds. Companies routinely show gold prices received well above spot prices and attribute the difference to hedging, but Newmont added the cost of borrowing which shows the true net impact.

This year, Newmont is obliged to deliver at least 1 million ounces into its hedges at a price of $303 per ounce. That seems reasonable enough except that "associated gold borrowing costs" reduce the final price by $17 per ounce to $286. With spot gold expected to average $305 an ounce this year, that`s an opportunity cost of $19 million for the year on the minimum ounces to be delivered.

If only this sort of transparency was available in all producer reporting... Indeed, Newmont can take a bow for one of the most comprehensive and clear quarterly reports despite coming out of a tumultuous acquisition.

That gave Lassonde the room to continue his aggressive promotion of Newmont as a "non-hedger" and to further its claim to be "the gold standard". Not quite, but it`s certainly making progress and there is a lot more buzz about this merger than there was about Barrick-Homestake.

Lassonde remains resolutely bullish on gold, characterising the recent upward drift in prices as "climbing the wall of worry." He refuted suggestions that gold has lost its allure as a safe haven and believes it will endure as a portfolio diversifier used to counter the business cycle.

Noise

Chief executive Wayne Murdy pleaded with investors to wait until the second quarter so that the "noise" of the merger could be better filtered out.

He focused on projections for the full-year that will see Newmont produce 7.5 million ounces, reduce debt gearing to less than a fifth of total capitalisation, replace reserves net of production and realize $400 million from non-core asset sales.

Reserve replacement has occupied a good deal of attention in figuring out valuation models and Lassonde was explicit in warning investors not to expect a continuation of traditionally wasteful reserve policies.

The trend will be to lower reserve life at existing operations although there is a commitment to find new ounces through organic exploration; concentrated around its existing Nevada holdings. Lassonde also said the firm`s extensive land holdings would be "open for business" to exploration companies.

As predicted earlier this year by Miningweb, Newmont has assumed $2.5 billion in goodwill – the excess it paid over fair market value for Normandy – which will be adjusted on an annual basis. The probability of an impairment makes a profit essential in Q1 2003 if Newmont is not to be knocked out of the all important long-term return on equity ratings.

By the numbers

Newmont reported a net loss of $10.9 million, or 4 cents per share, for the first quarter, which includes a one-off derivative related gain, compared with a loss in the year-earlier period of $39.1 million ($0.2 per share).

It sold 1.464 million ounces of gold (1.422moz) with total production costs up sharply to $262 an ounce ($220).

[Arhaes]

Hedgers wipe out more than $1-bn

By: Tim Wood


Posted: 2002/05/17 Fri 21:48 | © Miningweb 1997-2002


PRINCETON, New Jersey -- Placer Dome [PDG] is the sole remaining major hedger with a positive mark-to-market value on its hedge book, some $235 million to the good at the end of March, but that`s about where the good news ends.
The combined value of hedge programmes run by the major producers, including currency and related derivative instruments, had a negative value approaching $2 billion at the end of the first quarter. The hedge programmes cover more than 70 million ounces of gold; equivalent to nearly a full year of new mine production.

The losses piled on as gold ran up from the December 31 closing price of $277 an ounce to the first quarter closing of $303 per ounce, a $26 gain, or 9.4 per cent. With bullion since adding a further $7 and holding at these levels through the second quarter`s midway point, things are looking bleak.

The books of the largest hedgers swung violently as the leading foursome by ounces committed – Barrick [ABX], AngloGold [AU], Placer Dome and Newmont [NEM] – saw their balance sheets weaken by close on $1 billion. The top four account for over 50 million ounces of hedge commitments, half of those against Barrick`s name alone.

Australia`s Newcrest [NCR] is in a precarious position at nearly half a million dollars in the red on all its positions against just 6 million ounces committed, or a little more than one fifth of resources. Fellow Aussie producer Aurion Gold also looks endangered with 90 per cent of its reserves short sold, a programme that is underwater to the tune of $250 million. That is more than double the loss Ashanti [ASL] carries on 9 per cent fewer ounces.

Newmont

Newmont has been fighting to buttress investor perception of it as a champion of the anti-hedging movement, but as the fourth biggest hedger with 7.3 million short-sold ounces acquired from Normandy, the "leveraged-to-gold" mantle falls squarely on Gold Fields [GOLD], at least for the time being.

Newmont`s successful and very fully priced bid for Normandy was predicated on a rising gold price, but if truth be told, it ran a little early. There is no question that if the mark-to-market value had been positive when the deal was closed in mid February, Newmont would have closed out every ounce.

Newmont treasury representative Randy Engel says the company has to deal with the hedge book "opportunistically". He says there were no undue surprises on assuming responsibility for the hedges, but there is little point spending most of its cash reserves to escape the noose. That may partly explain why Newmont has failed to achieve the widely expected rerating on its debt after it was cut BAA3 by Moody`s a year ago.

Intriguingly, Engel says the net negative value of $411, which covers all instruments, represents a full and final settlement figure. It has been widely assumed by hedging critics that early close outs would invite severe penalties.

A Toronto mining executive was surprised at the claim, saying that his personal experience with hedge contracts was that it was almost impossible to wriggle out of them except at huge additional cost.

Newmont executives would never say so, but It would actually suit the company to have gold dive briefly back to $277 per ounce, which would put its hedges back in the black and make it worthwhile to close out.

Meanwhile, Engel says the firm is committed to managing its positions actively to ensure the fastest possible reduction in committed ounces at the least cost. "We won`t be doing wholesale maintenance on it on a day-to-day basis," he says.

That may be a weakness says another mining executive who thinks Newmont`s lack of hard core hedging experience is being shown up in its lack of flexibility relative to other producers.

Rogue magician

For as long as Newmont is within the hedging camp, it has the potential to wreak the sort of havoc a rogue magician does by revealing trade secrets. Houdini was only as appealing as the mystery of his exploits.

Until now, all producers have hardly pushed disclosure limits when talking about their hedging programmes. They cite competitor concerns and contractual secrecy demanded by their banks as reasons not to provide the sort of information investors could use to do independent modelling.

Indeed, it is impossible to find a single equity analyst or portfolio manager who can claim to have any of the hedge books nailed down beyond extremely rough sensitivity charts. It is not a trivial concern give the tremendous contribution hedging has made to the bottom line in the down cycle. The reverse will be true the longer the boom persists and the hedgers risk chaffing against the swing to full disclosure given all the accounting scandals.

Consequently, Newmont`s semi mischievous revelation in its primary news release of how producers burnish prices received on hedged ounces is a welcome start to unravelling the black boxes. Quite how far it will be able to go remains to be seen, but it has set a new reporting benchmark for its peers.

Investors should be demanding identical disclosure across the board in terms of understanding the net price achieved on hedged ounces where producers have borrowed gold and, therefore, incurred costs against floating rate instruments, in order to generate cash flow.

Accounting guidelines require only contractual prices to be disclosed so producers can continue presenting headline figures as they do and burying the detail in footnotes. The easiest thing to do would be to follow the old Normandy practice of revealing the average life borrowing costs in simple percentage terms.

Investors on the gold bug side of the fence will be hoping against hope that Newmont reveals as much as possible about its hedging model if only to allow someone to break the cipher on many others.

Company Mark-to-market Committed oz
Barrick -$127m 24moz
AngloGold -$495m 12.9moz
Placer Dome +$235m 8.6moz
Newmont -$411m 7.3moz
Newcrest -$492m 6moz
Aurion Gold -$247m 5.5moz
Ashanti -$106m 5.1moz
Lihir 2.5moz
Cambior -$29.8m 1.2moz

[Sovereign]

Die Zahlen vom Mining Web stimmen nicht (bei Ashanti und Cambior kenne ich das hedge bokk schließlich bis zur letzten Unze ):

Ashanti hatte committed oz (d.h. protected oz zzgl. austehender naked call options) von 7,5 Mio. oz und bei Cambior liegt die Zahl bei 1,8 Mio. oz

Gruß

Sovereign

[Dottore Lupo]

@ Sovereign: kannst du bitte mal Lihir durchleuchten...weil irgendwas ist dort faul...der Kurs ist einfach lächerlich bei den Reserven und Produktionskosten...werden wohl alles in Währungsgeschäften versandeln..wie alle anderen auch wenn das Hedgebook nicht unter Wasser steht,wird noch als Kick eine Währungsabsicherung betrieben,bei der es einem die Nackenhaare sträubt.

cu DL

[Arhaes]

AurionGold

Plans To Reduce Gold Hedging Next 12 Months
London, May 17 (OsterDowJones) - Australian-based AurionGold plans to reduce its gold hedge position over the next 12 months but will not buy back forward hedge positions, the company`s General Manager of Treasury and Risk Management, Rob Dougall, said at a meeting of investors in London.


MfG

[crashkommt]

GOLD - JOHANNESBURG

1.7 million ounces off AngloGold hedge

The South African gold major will trim another 1.7 million ounces from its hedge book, in one of the most aggressive accelerated hedge delivery programmes in recent memory. Its total position should fall below 10 million ounces by the end of the year.

MfG

[manfred1_I]

Jungs dann haltet euch mal ran. Jetzt haben
wir preiswerte Einstiegsmöglichkeiten.

[crashkommt]

Asian banks seen as new gold buyers

By: Peter Gonnella


Posted: 2002/07/01 Mon 17:53 ZE8 | © Miningweb 1997-2002


PERTH – The gold price has not been able to sustain its upward momentum because of a lack of new investors in the market, but there`s a case for Asian central banks to start buying gold again, according to a leading global gold analyst.
Reinforcing this sentiment was the swift erosion of gains in the gold price last week, said associate director of metals and mining at Macquarie Bank, Kamal Naqvi. The huge accounting errors uncovered at Worldcom and Xerox had a damaging effect on equity markets and pounded the US dollar, and although this negative news caused a couple of upticks in the gold price, they were quickly given up – and then some.

Notwithstanding the US investment bank-inspired gold sell-off last Friday, which saw the gold price dive almost US$10/oz at one stage, the events of last week and indeed most of this year (including terrorist- and Middle East-related nervousness) suggest Asian central banks could "theoretically at least" be convinced to return as a buyer of gold in the current economic climate, Naqvi argued. Miningweb understands the investment bank was Morgan Stanley.

Naqvi noted that over the past five years there had been a large move by central banks, particularly those in Asia following the region`s currencies and financial crises in 1997/98, into US-dollar denominated assets. "Given the current uncertain outlook for the foreign exchange markets, particularly the US dollar, this could be one of the few occasions in our view when increasing central bank gold reserves could be justified," he said. "There are certainly quite a number of European central banks who would be more than willing to consider an exchange."

He said Asian central banks were potential gold investors because their reserves were insignificant, having crept up by only 7 per cent (in US dollar terms) in the past five years. If it wasn`t for the extra 100 tonnes of gold held by the People`s Bank of China in January this year, probably set aside to offer liquidity to the Shanghai Gold Exchange the analyst said, then Asian central bank gold reserves have actually crawled up by only 1 per cent since 1995.

In contrast, Asian central banks have boosted their total reserves by 57 per cent in the same timeframe. "Much of this increase in foreign exchange reserves has been in US-dollar denominated assets," Naqvi said.

Counting against gold are that it doesn`t provide a return on holding the metal in bank vaults and, particularly pertinent to Asia after its currency crisis, it`s not an asset that can be used to help stabilise currencies. Consequently, after 1997/98, there was a flight to larger holdings of foreign exchange.

"But, even accepting this, the current foreign currency weighting of Asian central banks appears overly skewed towards US dollars, particularly given the current sentiment towards the greenback and the risk that depreciation accelerates," Naqvi pointed out.

He added that at the moment the "fair" value of the other two major currencies, the euro and the yen, was unclear. "Hence, there appears to be quite a strong argument for Asian central banks to increase their weighting of gold in their official reserves, even if only for a relatively short period."

Late on Friday US time, Naqvi said a US investment bank sold gold in small volumes until stops were hit, triggering additional selling and a dramatic correction in the gold price just before Comex closed. It fell as low as US$310.50/oz before recovering a little to US$313.90 by the close of the equities market in Sydney (Monday).

In the wake of the Worldcom scandal, Naqvi said it was expected that gold would bounce on the back of weaker US futures markets and a weaker US dollar (to virtual parity with the euro). "The surprise was that, given the level of concern and the extent of the moves in financial markets, gold only gained around US$5/oz (last Wednesday)," he said. However, by the end of trading in New York that day, a late rally in US equities markets wiped off most of gold`s gains. "Yet further confirmation that most market participants are already long with little desire to go longer."

Naqvi added there was a lot of June quarter`s end-motivated profit-taking by funds, which also conspired to suppress the gold price.

MfG

[crashkommt]

Asian banks seen as new gold buyers

By: Peter Gonnella


Posted: 2002/07/01 Mon 17:53 ZE8 | © Miningweb 1997-2002


PERTH – The gold price has not been able to sustain its upward momentum because of a lack of new investors in the market, but there`s a case for Asian central banks to start buying gold again, according to a leading global gold analyst.
Reinforcing this sentiment was the swift erosion of gains in the gold price last week, said associate director of metals and mining at Macquarie Bank, Kamal Naqvi. The huge accounting errors uncovered at Worldcom and Xerox had a damaging effect on equity markets and pounded the US dollar, and although this negative news caused a couple of upticks in the gold price, they were quickly given up – and then some.

Notwithstanding the US investment bank-inspired gold sell-off last Friday, which saw the gold price dive almost US$10/oz at one stage, the events of last week and indeed most of this year (including terrorist- and Middle East-related nervousness) suggest Asian central banks could "theoretically at least" be convinced to return as a buyer of gold in the current economic climate, Naqvi argued. Miningweb understands the investment bank was Morgan Stanley.

Naqvi noted that over the past five years there had been a large move by central banks, particularly those in Asia following the region`s currencies and financial crises in 1997/98, into US-dollar denominated assets. "Given the current uncertain outlook for the foreign exchange markets, particularly the US dollar, this could be one of the few occasions in our view when increasing central bank gold reserves could be justified," he said. "There are certainly quite a number of European central banks who would be more than willing to consider an exchange."

He said Asian central banks were potential gold investors because their reserves were insignificant, having crept up by only 7 per cent (in US dollar terms) in the past five years. If it wasn`t for the extra 100 tonnes of gold held by the People`s Bank of China in January this year, probably set aside to offer liquidity to the Shanghai Gold Exchange the analyst said, then Asian central bank gold reserves have actually crawled up by only 1 per cent since 1995.

In contrast, Asian central banks have boosted their total reserves by 57 per cent in the same timeframe. "Much of this increase in foreign exchange reserves has been in US-dollar denominated assets," Naqvi said.

Counting against gold are that it doesn`t provide a return on holding the metal in bank vaults and, particularly pertinent to Asia after its currency crisis, it`s not an asset that can be used to help stabilise currencies. Consequently, after 1997/98, there was a flight to larger holdings of foreign exchange.

"But, even accepting this, the current foreign currency weighting of Asian central banks appears overly skewed towards US dollars, particularly given the current sentiment towards the greenback and the risk that depreciation accelerates," Naqvi pointed out.

He added that at the moment the "fair" value of the other two major currencies, the euro and the yen, was unclear. "Hence, there appears to be quite a strong argument for Asian central banks to increase their weighting of gold in their official reserves, even if only for a relatively short period."

Late on Friday US time, Naqvi said a US investment bank sold gold in small volumes until stops were hit, triggering additional selling and a dramatic correction in the gold price just before Comex closed. It fell as low as US$310.50/oz before recovering a little to US$313.90 by the close of the equities market in Sydney (Monday).

In the wake of the Worldcom scandal, Naqvi said it was expected that gold would bounce on the back of weaker US futures markets and a weaker US dollar (to virtual parity with the euro). "The surprise was that, given the level of concern and the extent of the moves in financial markets, gold only gained around US$5/oz (last Wednesday)," he said. However, by the end of trading in New York that day, a late rally in US equities markets wiped off most of gold`s gains. "Yet further confirmation that most market participants are already long with little desire to go longer."

Naqvi added there was a lot of June quarter`s end-motivated profit-taking by funds, which also conspired to suppress the gold price.

MfG

[crashkommt]

Durban ist jetzt hedge-frei

MfG



DRD grasps hedge-free status

By: David McKay


Posted: 2002/07/08 Mon 19:33 ZE2 | © Miningweb 1997-2002


JOHANNESBURG -- Durban Roodepoort Deep [JSEUR; NASDAQROOY], South Africa`s fourth largest gold producer, today (8 July) confirmed it had wiped out the remaining portion of its hedge book exposing itself entirely to the spot gold price from 30 June. Chairman and chief executive, Mark Wellesley-Wood, said the company had last week delivered into 395,000 ounces of gold at a total cost of $70 million (R700 million). Wellesley-Wood announced in 2001 that the company intended to rid itself of a hedge book which had capped the company`s revenue stream during gold`s rally from about $280 to its current level of above $310 per ounce.
There is an outstanding fixed loss on the close out of about $17 million which Wellesley-Wood said would be paid in the current year. This related to a short-term creditor and was a financial liability not a hedging issue. Durban Roodepoort Deep (DRD) would settle with that party using the proceeds of the sale of Crown Recoveries to Khumo Bathong, announced earlier this year, or the debt facility raised from South African bank, Standard Corporate & Merchant Bank or from cash flow, Wellesley-Wood said.

In the last 12 months, DRD has spent almost R1 billion reducing its hedge book from its initial level of some 805,000 ounces of gold. The hedge book included about 140,000 ounces of long positions.



The upside for DRD is significant given that the rand gold price is currently at R101,337 per kilogram. Wellesley-Wood said that in the month of June, the company had made more profits than in the previous quarter. He declined to provide more details ahead of the company`s June quarter operational and financial results which are scheduled for publication on July 25.

DRD would have reported a net dollar cash operating profit of just under $25 million against actual March quarter figures of about $2 million had it been unhedged in that period. Share earnings in dollar terms would have been roughly a positive 2 cents a share compared to a reported loss in earnings. As it happened, DRD reported a one-third decline in operating cash profit to $11 million largely owing to hedge book repayments.

Commenting on the year ahead, Wellesley-Wood said that DRD would focus on building its growth strategy thought to involve a number of targets in the Australasian region. DRD arranged a full listing on the Australian Stock Exchange which became effective last month. DRD ended the day 605 cents higher on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange at R43.45.

[crashkommt]

AngloGold puts brakes on hedge buyback

By: Stewart Bailey


Posted: 2002/07/31 Wed 16:29 ZE2 | © Miningweb 1997-2002


JOHANNESBURG – South Africa`s largest gold producer, Anglogold, said this morning (31 July) it would put the brakes on its aggressive hedge buy-back programme. The group has wound up more than 33 percent of its hedge book this year in response to increased investor appetite for gold companies with undiluted exposure to the bullion price.
Bobby Godsell, AngloGold`s chairman, said the group had achieved a good balance between revenue certainty and gold price upside. "So it is unlikely to reduce the hedge by anything of this magnitude going forward," said Godsell.

In the three months to June, AngloGold reduced its hedge book by 2.4 million ounces, or 165 percent of its quarterly production. The hedge book is now 10.5 million ounces, stretching out to 2011.

AngloGold`s hedge restructuring activities for the year to date have the net effect of it having bought back 1.3 million ounces of its hedge book over and above its production of 1.75 million ounces since January.

Group marketing director Kelvin Williams said the group had adjusted its hedge ahead of the expectations of the market and "beyond that of the company claiming to the world`s largest unhedged gold producer". (According to the latest HSBC senior gold book, Newmont`s total hedge book stands at around 8.866 million ounces at an average price of $319/oz, out to 2009.)

`Producer buybacks buoyed the market`

Williams said the collective impact of the raft of producer buybacks this year had helped take the net long position on Comex to 310 tons, its highest level in six years. Overall, the demand from gold producers had placed a "favourable lean" on the bullion market and in this regard, he said, AngloGold`s activities had been dominant.

"We`ll now focus less on volume and more on the content of the book going forward," said Williams. At 30 June, officially the last day of the quarter, the group`s book currently had a negative mark to market value of R4.38 billion (-$422.81 million), based on a $312.25/oz gold price.

In the intervening month, however, the marked-to-market value of the hedge had been pared to R3.1 billion (-$294.5 million), based on a $302.50/oz gold price.

AngloGold – still positive about the future for gold

A senior South African gold analyst said the break-neck speed of AngloGold`s hedge buy-back policy was expected to taper off from the end of the June quarter. "They`ve done what they could as far as the hedge book is concerned," said the analyst. "The main thing is that they are still positive about the fundamentals for the gold market," he said.

Williams said that despite the slowdown in the pull back of the hedge, the company remained "positive about the market".

"Notwithstanding weaker prices in June and July, we believe that the favourable market circumstances for gold remain firmly in place, and should continue to support the price of gold going forward," said Williams.

He said Comex remained the single most important factor moving the spot price of gold," said Williams. "We should watch very carefully how Comex behaves in the coming month," he said.

Dollar weakness will persist

AngloGold also said in a statement that the rising dollar-price of gold had negatively affected physical demand for the metal, particularly in India. "However, seasonal factors should assist in physical demand during the third quarter and for the balance of the year and the performance of gold offtake for the balance of the year will be an important indicator of how the physical market is dealing with higher and more volatile gold prices," the company said in a gold market commentary.

It said that dollar weakness had dominated price activity during the June quarter, with the dollar losing 19 percent in six months against the euro. The company said it expected that the bout of dollar weakness – almost certainly a strong positive for gold – would persist.

"(A)fter the 40 percent appreciation of the US dollar between 1995 and 2001, it seems likely that this correction is not yet complete. While today`s circumstances are different from those of 1985 to 1990, when the US dollar lost 50 percent in value against other currencies, it is nevertheless likely that the dollar has to devalue further against other major currencies before equilibrium is reached," said AngloGold.


MfG

[crashkommt]

Goldminen kaufen Goldminen!



Foreigners own 70% of Aussie gold


Posted:11/25/2002 12:00:00 PM | © Mineweb 1997-2002




SYDNEY - Offshore mining companies have control of 70 per cent of the Australian gold industry, following Canadian miner Placer Dome`s takeover of AurionGold.
AAP reports Melbourne mining industry consultants Surbiton Associates said overseas control of the industry had jumped to 30 per cent by the end of 2000, from 20 per cent five years ago.

"With further takeovers, including US-based Newmont Mining`s takeover of Normandy, it had risen to 60 per cent by early 2002," Surbiton said.

The figure rises to 70 per cent with Placer`s successful bid for AurionGold - it recently moved to compulsory acquisition.

According to Surbiton, North American companies control around 48 per cent of the local industry and South African companies 20 per cent.

Managing director Sandra Close said only one of Australia`s top 10 gold operations, Newcrest Mining`s Cadia Hill in NSW, and four of the top 20 were owned by Australian-based companies.


MfG

[crashkommt]

Taylor reassured the market Placer was committed to reducing its hedging position, which would increase post-merger to about 13Moz or 26 percent of its expanded global reserve inventory of about 50Moz. “We prefer to be no more than 15 percent hedged,” he said. But first Placer’s hedging agenda will be centred on simplifying its inherited hedging instruments, by restructuring the three separate AurionGold hedge books (that of the former Delta Gold, Goldfields of Australia and Ross Mining) and integrating them into the Placer book. AurionGold was heavily hedged in the short-term so the natural attrition of delivering into contracts would help reduce the hedging exposure relatively rapidly. Taylor didn’t envisage the costs of the proposed hedging rationalisation would be material.


MfG

[konradi]

das mach mal selbst ...

[crashkommt]

Ein Goldproduzent, der den Goldpreis nach unten redet,


Traurig, traurig, wir wissen alle warum.

Strong sell


Placer backs rising gold price


Posted:12/11/2002 07:00:00 AM | © Mineweb 1997-2002




LONDON - Canada`s Placer Dome Inc, one of the world`s biggest gold miners, is upbeat about the gold price outlook for next year despite the steep rise it has seen this year, vice president Lorne Stephenson said.
Stephenson told AFX News that gold prices, which have moved up to $325 per ounce currently from $276 in 2001, still has further upside potential.

"We`re bullish on gold prices," he said, adding prices are still heading "north of $325".

"That level is sustainable," he said. But as to whether prices could reach $400 as some traders expect, he replied: "I don`t think so."


MfG