NOV. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed copper producer Central Asia Metals said it bought an 80% interest in a copper exploration property in northern Kazakhstan. The company said that it paid local company GRK-Aksu around $1m for the stake and has pledged to invest another $1m in the deposit in 2017.
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(News report from Issue No. 306, published on Nov. 25 2016)
TBILISI, NOV. 16 2016, (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed Georgian Mining Corporation said it raised £2.6m ($3.2m) in a new share offering designed to finance the development of its Kvemo Bolnisi copper and gold mine in the south of Georgia.
Last month, Georgian Mining changed its name from Noricum Gold to reflect the geographic focus of its operations.
After the restructuring and consolidation of ordinary shares, the fresh share issue represents 40% of the total issued shares and will dilute ownership in the company.
Before the placing, businessmen Michael Johnson (6.1%), Martyn Churchouse (5.4%) and Fahad Al- Tamimi (4.9%) were the three largest shareholders.
The company said the new cash will fund development of the Kvemo Bolnisi mine, in which it owns a 50% stake.
“This raise is a significant endorsement of our approach to commence production at low cost and for a minimum capex requirement,” director Greg Kuenzel said in a statement.
Georgia’s Caucasian Mining Group, owned by Russian entrepreneur Dmitri Troitsky, is Georgian Mining’s partner at Kvemo Bolnisi.
Georgian Mining bought its 50% share in Kvemo Bolnisi in July 2015 from GMC Investment for £2.6m ($3.2m). The company started drilling in June, in line with its forecasts. Reserves at the Bolnisi project include 980,000 tonnes of copper, 6.6m ounces of gold and 22m ounces of silver.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
NOV. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Encouraging production results at Kyrgyzstan’s largest gold mine, Kumtor, supported Centerra Gold shares in Toronto, although they were weighed down by a fall in the price of gold.
The company said that because a court in Bishkek has restricted its access to cash held by its Kumtor gold mine, it could not pay a quarterly dividend and may have to seek a cash injection to continue operations. It didn’t give any more details of this but it would be a departure from previous policy.
The spat with the Kyrgyz government, which has become increasingly heated in the past two years, seems to be constantly on the verge of breaking point.
In general, though, Centerra’s share price has followed the price of gold. However, should news from Kyrgyzstan continue to be negative, Centerra’s stock price might start diverging from this pattern.
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(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)
BISHKEK, NOV. 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Canadian mining company Centerra Gold, owner of the Kumtor mine in Kyrgyzstan, reported a profitable Q3 for the first time in five years because it had cut costs and processed higher grade, and more valuable, gold but said it is still unable to access cash held in the company’s bank account.
Also, in the first nine months of 2016 the company turned a profit of $87.9m, compared to $44.5m in the same period last year. Centerra also revised upwards by 7% its yearly production guidance to 520,000 – 560,000 ounces. This is important because Kumtor is the single biggest economic asset in Kyrgyzstan, delivering around 10% of its total GDP.
But Centerra, which is 32% owned by the Kyrgyz government, also said that Bishkek’s Supreme Court rejected its appeal in October against a freeze of Kumtor’s bank account. Importantly, the Supreme Court’s decision came just one day after Centerra finalised the buyout of Canada’s Thompson Creek, which Kyrgyz lawmakers had fiercely opposed.
A Bishkek Court has frozen Kumtor’s bank accounts since June because of an unpaid environmental fine. Centerra has said the fine is politically motivated. The two sides have been locked in a row over ownership of the Kumtor gold mine.
CEO Scott Perry said the ongoing spat meant Centerra could not pay a dividend this quarter and hinted it may have to raise external finance.
“Absent access to cash held by KGC (Kumtor), the Company expects that it will be required to raise financing in order to fund construction and development expenditures on its development properties or to defer such expenditures,” he said in Centerra’s statement. The Kyrgyz government has not commented.
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(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)
NOV. 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon inaugurated a new steel plant in the city of Hisor, in western Tajikistan. The plant, which cost 250m somoni ($31.8m) to build, will produce between 100,000 and 200,000 tonnes of steel and other metals. Faroz, a construction company, will be the plant’s main customer.
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(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)
NOV. 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Parliament approved a law to establish an International Atomic Energy Agency-sponsored low-enriched uranium fuel bank in the country. For years, Kazakhstan lobbied the Agency to establish a nuclear fuel bank in its territory, as a testimony of the country’s efforts to combat nuclear proliferation. Kazakhstan is the world’s largest producer of uranium.
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(News report from Issue No. 303, published on Nov. 4 2016)
OCT. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan-focused copper miner KAZ Minerals posted a strong Q3 operational report, more than tripling production compared to the same period last year, mainly due to the coming online of the Aktogay and Bozshakol projects.
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(News report from Issue No. 303, published on Nov. 4 2016)
NOV. 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan-focused Anglo Asian Mining said it had improved cost- efficiency at its gold mining operations in Gedabek, a gold, copper and silver mine in the west of the country. The company has cut per-ounce expenditure to $703 in H1 2016 from $925 in H1 2015.
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(News report from Issue No. 303, published on Nov. 4 2016)
OCT. 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Rallying on last week’s new discovery, Anglo Asian’s stock price nearly doubled, closing at 29p, a three-year high. On Oct. 17, the Azerbaijani miner said it discovered a new gold deposit 3km north of its main deposit at Gadabek. The company will further evaluate the deposit next year, when it plans to bring it to commercial production.
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(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)
OCT. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan-focused miner Centerra Gold said it completed the acquisition of Thompson Creek, a Canadian miner, in exchange for 8% of its shares. Centerra said that the deal is consistent with its diversification efforts. Under the Centerra brand, Thompson Creek will continue its operations in British Columbia. The Kyrgyz government owns a minority stake in Centerra and had opposed the transaction because it said it would have diluted its shareholding in Centerra.
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(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)