Tag Archives: metals and mining

SFO to look into Kazakh ENRC

JULY 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The British government gave the Serious Frauds Office extra funding to complete its ongoing corruption investigation into ENRC, a Kazakh miner that quit the London Stock Exchange in 2013. The company is accused of having paid bribes to win contracts in Kazakhstan and Africa. Three prominent Kazakhstan-based businessmen, Alexander Mashkevich, Alijan Ibragimov and Patokh Chodiev, founded ENRC, now called Eurasian Resources Group.

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(News report from Issue No. 288, published on July 8 2016)

Stock market: Central Asia Metals

JULY 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Central Asia Metals, a Kazakhstan-focused copper producer, jumped 5% on Monday after it announced that its Q2 production had increased by 20%, boosting investor confidence. It closed at 156p/share on Thursday.

The company can now boast a 27% growth in production and a 24% increase in sales for H1 2016, compared to the same period last year. Central Asia Metals is expanding its Kounrad project, a copper recovery plant, which should be expanded in H2 2016.

The past six months or so have been a rollercoaster for Central Asia Metals’ share price. It plunged to an 18-month low in January before rebounding back to above 160p/share in March. After a brief period of stability, though, the stock suffered the downward pressure of declining copper prices and spiraled down to around 145p/share.

Analysts said the nature of Central Asia Metals’ production makes it immune from copper price volatility, but, as shown in the graph, both the stock and the commodity have gained 10% since the beginning of the year.

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(News report from Issue No. 288, published on July 8 2016)

Noricum funds new gold project in Georgia

JULY 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Noricum Gold, a London-based miner, said it has raised over £1.1m ($1.4m) to fund a new project at the DavidGaredji gold and copper mine. Noricum partners with Georgia’s Caucasian Mining Group at the Bolnisi copper/gold project in the south of Georgia. Discovered during the Soviet periods, the David Garedji underground basin is located near the Bolnisi project.

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(News report from Issue No. 288, published on July 8 2016)

China to invest into Kazakh Glencore

JULY 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – State-owned China National Gold Group and Silk Road Fund will partner to invest $2b to buy the Vasilkovskoye mine in Kazakhstan, owned by Glencore. China’s Shandong Gold Mining and Zijin Mining Group have also expressed interest in the mine. Glencore owns 70% of Kazzinc, the company that operates Vasilkovskoye, which is located 300km north-west of Astana.

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(News report from Issue No. 288, published on July 8 2016)

Analysis: Brexit splits region’s stocks

JULY 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, nicknamed Brexit, worried investors who ditched risky assets for safe havens such as gold and government bonds. And the ripple of nervous activity spread to Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

Prices in the immediate aftermath for most stocks fell sharply, by 17% in the case of Kazakhstan copper producer KAZ Minerals.

Oil and gas-linked stocks followed a fall in Brent crude prices downwards. Tethys Petroleum was down 15% (the dotted purple line on the graph) and Roxi Petroleum lost 9%.

Only one company gained from Brexit. This was Toronto-listed miner Centerra Gold which followed the rising price of gold. Brexit forced investors to look for less risky shares, pushing a rise in gold prices, which climbed above $1,300/ounce.

In the following days, most of the shares bounced back in line with global investor sentiment but the split between gold – and gold-linked shares – and the rest was clear from the initial impact.

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(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)

Kyrgyzstan focused Manas moves into Africa

JUNE 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan-focused miner Manas Resources said it bought a gold project in Tanzania, in an effort to diversify its operational portfolio. Thedeal, struck with an Italian private group, will cost Manas $2m cash and $2m in shares. Last week, Manas halted trading at the Australian Stock Exchange, ahead of its announcement of the deal. After the deal was announced, Manas’ share price doubled to 0.4 Australian cents.

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(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)

Azerbaijan focused Anglo Asian aims to cash in on gold price rise

JUNE 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Looking to cash in on a spike in gold prices triggered by Brexit, Azerbaijan- focused miner Anglo Asian said it would sell the remainder of its 2016 production as futures.

Gold prices have risen 5% in the past week because of thinning confidence linked to Britain’s referendum last week which voted unexpectedly to leave the European Union, in a so-called Brexit, triggering a wave of uncertainty across the world.

The Anglo Asian deal fixed a price corridor of $1,200-$1,426/ounce for their future gold production for the next six months.

Reza Vaziri, Anglo Asian’s CEO, said that the deal, which could secure between $21.6m and $25.7m, will be beneficial for the company, which has had to cope with low gold prices over the past few months. It accumulated debt over the past few months which it now has to pay off.

“This is a win-win transaction for us,” Mr Vaziri said.

“Whilst protecting the downside in the current volatile gold market over the coming six months given Anglo Asian’s debt service payments, we also enjoy considerable exposure to any further increase in the price of gold during this period.”

Spot gold prices closed at $1,321.9/ounce on June 30 compared to $1,257.6/ounce on June 23.

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(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)

Centerra gets Kyrgyzstan licence

JUNE 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s State Agency for Environmental Protection and Forestry extended an environmental permit for Canadian miner Centerra Gold to operate at the Kumtor mine until the end of the year. The company now needs official approval of its mine plan for 2016 by the end of June in order to continue its work at the mine.

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(News report from Issue No. 286, published on June 24 2016)

Kazakhstan fines ArcelorMittal

JUNE 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Steel producer ArcelorMittal Temirtau received a fine of 3.4m tenge (around $10,000) from the Kazakh government for failing to comply with its 2014 investment plan. The company, a subsidiary of Indian giant ArcelorMittal, operates the biggest steel producing plant in Central Asia. Slower demand for steel had forced the company to cut back investment and lay off workers in 2014. It had hoped that the reemergence of Iran into the international economy would boost sales.

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(News report from Issue No. 286, published on June 24 2016)

Manas halts trading before announcing Kyrgyz acquisitions

JUNE 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Australia-based Manas Resources said it halted trading on the Australian Stock Exchange as it prepares the announcement of new acquisition at its Kyrgyz operations. Manas is developing two gold mines in southern Kyrgyzstan. The trading halt is a precautionary measure adopted to avoid speculation over the company’s share price. Trading will resume on June 27, the company said.

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(News report from Issue No. 286, published on June 24 2016)