Century Mining Expects 163,000 Gold Ounces in 2007
By Craig Wong
21 Oct 2006 at 08:02 AM EDT
resourceinvestor.com
VANCOUVER (CP) -- Century Mining Corp. [TSXV:CMM] chief executive Margaret Kent is seeking to invest in more projects in Peru after acquiring a minority stake in Peruvian miner Compania Minera Poderosa S.A. earlier this week.
Kent, who once headed Royal Oak Mines while her name was Peggy Witte, said Century is looking at two to three prospective properties a week at its office in Peru with a focus on more advanced-stage projects that perhaps have been dormant for a few years.
''As far as international producers, we are one of the only ones here and so this gives us, we believe, an edge up on what we're seeing,'' Kent told a conference call with analysts Friday.
''We're looking for projects that have some drilling on them and some reserves and resources on them.''
The junior gold miner has said it plans to produce 88,100 ounces of gold this year at a cash cost of $385 per ounce. Century expects to nearly double production to 163,000 ounces of gold next year at a cash cost of $331 per ounce.
In 2008, the company has forecast 243,000 ounces at a cash cost of US$319 per ounce.
Century Mining, which is based in Washington state and listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, has a deal on Monday to acquire a 38% stake in Minera Poderosa for $45.7 million in convertible debentures.
Kent said the company was willing to take a minority stake in the operation because of its low-cost production.
''This company is not going to go out and buy high-cash cost assets to add to its portfolio. That doesn't do us any good,'' she said.
''Low-cash cost ounces are not easy to acquire unless you want to go out and overpay for them and that's why you're seeing us do deals like the Poderosa deal whereby we're prepared to sit as a minority shareholder for a period of time.''
The company said it will recognize about 38,000 ounces of Poderosa's annual gold production at a mine site cash cost of about $205 per ounce.
The Peruvian miner has about 750 employees and owns and operates the Poderosa gold mine in the Pataz province of northern Peru. Since 1982, the Poderosa mine has produced about 1.4 million ounces of gold from 3.3 million tonnes of ore.
The acquisition followed the purchase of a 60% controlling interest in San Juan Gold Mines S.A.A. in May.
Century also owns the dormant Carolin gold mine in southwestern British Columbia and has nine precious metals exploration properties on the Juneau gold belt in Alaska.
Shares in the company gained one cent to close at 88 cents on the TSX Venture Exchange on Friday. The shares have traded as high as C$1.89 and as low as 28.5 cents over the last 52 weeks. |
