Gold, Silver Shares Mixed, Miners on Display in Denver
Gold and silver shares oscillated between gains and losses alongside precious metals and the broader equity markets on Wednesday.
The Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index (XAU) fell 2.0% to 173.51 this morning, but later rebounded to 178.65 before hovering near unchanged at 177.34 this afternoon. The sector slightly lagged the S&P 500 Index, which inched up by 0.2% to 1,435.97. As for the metals themselves, gold futures inched lower by $0.80 to $1,734.10 per ounce while silver fell 0.8% to $33.29 per ounce.
Several of the world’s largest gold mining companies were in the news on Wednesday as their management teams presented at the annual Denver Gold Forum in Colorado.
Josh Wolfson, a Stifel Nicolaus analyst who covers several large-cap gold stocks, provided a summary of three noteworthy presentations in a report to clients. Highlights from the report follow:
“Eldorado Gold (EGO) president Norm Pitcher presented at the Denver Gold Forum today…Pitcher highlighted Eldorado’s strong growth pipeline, consisting of plans to commission 6 new mines and 1 major expansion to grow annual production from 0.7 million ounces in 2012 to 1.7 million ounces by 2016. Eldorado’s corporate strategy aims to position the company as an intermediate producer with a geographically diverse portfolio of high quality assets capable of sustainable production levels of 1.5-2.0 million ounces annually at low corporate cash costs.”
“Randgold Resources (GOLD) CEO Mark Bristow presented at the Denver Gold Forum today…Bristow highlighted industry concerns of production sustainability, contrasting the practice of mining above reserve grade by peers against Randgold’s strategy to deliver near term growth by increasing mined grade to its reserve grade. Annual corporate production is anticipated to grow from approximately mid-800,000 ounces today to over 1.2 million ounces in 2015, driven by the company’s current portfolio of assets and not through acquisitions or exploration hopes.”
“IAMGOLD (IAG) SVP Exploration Craig MacDougall presented at the Denver Gold Forum today…MacDougall highlighted a rebalancing of IAMGOLD’s core asset base following the company’s acquisition of the Cote Gold project, with resources evenly diversified across North America, South America, and West Africa…An updated resource estimate is expected in October for the recently acquired Cote Gold project (7% of NAV). Drill results up to August 2012 will be included, primarily focused on infill, though potential for resource expansion exists.”
Wolfson also reiterated his Buy rating on the three gold producers with price targets of $14.50 on EGO, $110.00 on GOLD, and $16.00 on IAG.
For additional commentary, analysis, and rankings of the gold stocks sector, visit GoldAlert Pro @ http://pro.goldalert.com
2012-09-12 13:50:12
Source: http://www.goldalert.com/2012/09/gold-silver-shares-mixed-miners-on-display-in-denver/
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