I figured I would share my work as I review the PM stocks I know with respect to the suitably for being purchased at this point.
And look at gold go!
BTO B2Gold
Geographically, they have some issues due to mine locations in the Philippines, Mali, and Namibia, countries not particularly well equipped to deal with COVID-19. But in each case the mines are open pit and in relatively isolated locations, and in each case the company seems to have been able to develop systems that isolate them from the nearby small communities.
Operationally, theur mines have been going great guns, increasing production and keeping costs low. Kiaka in particular seems to have huge upside.
The problem areas lie with their exploration and development, particularly Gramalote in Colombia, a JV with Anglogold Ashanti which was supposed to be their next producing mine. Colombia is not doing well and Gramalote has essentially shut down for now.
Another advantage for BTO is that it is very liquid, often being the highest volume stock on the TSX.
One thing that might give you pause is the way the stock has run up of late, today setting another ATH.
My personal target for the shares, assuming the PoG cooperates and we don't get another stock market crash, is $10, though I might let some shares go around $8 depending on how things look at the time.
ASR Alacer Gold
Alacer produces in only one country, Turkey, where COVID-19 is a threat, but in its favour the mine is located in a remote location and is open pit/ mining, much of the ore being processed by heap leach, so they can continue producing for a while from stockpiles even if they have to stop mining.
I have been invested in Alacer for quite some time, and have been very impressed by how management was able to implement sulfide production as the original oxide ore began to be depleted. And they have since found a lot of new oxide ore in the area with prospects for much more to come.
Alacer hit an ATH last year and then dropped back after the market crash, but I could see it reaching $10 alongside BTO if the PoG cooperates.
OGC Oceanagold
OGC is IMO higher risk than BTO or ASR due to the way the Philippine government has been dicking around with their permits for Didipio, but this means if they can straighten the permits out and resume production there could be a lot of upside.
Their New Zealmd production has been curtailed by COVID-19, but does continue, and again there is upside to come as they begin production from new ore bodies at Waihi. Meanwhile the ramp up at Halle in the US continues apace, though I am little wary of the potential impacts on production of tropical storms, which seem to have been targeting the area of late.
Without Didipio, OGC will probably just meander, but if they can get those permits straightened out, look out above. That said, perhaps the wise move is to wait for a while on this one.
RNX Royal Nickel
(I wish they would get around to selling or spinning out their share of the Quebec nickel project so they can concentrate on the gold, but since prospects look poor for nickel right now, I guess we'll have to wait on that.)
The important aspect of RNX is their gold production and exploration in Autralia. We have been discussing this company on this board of late, thanks to kidl, so I won't say too much more other than to say I have been very impressed with how management took the opportunity to buy the neighbouring Higginsville properties, unlocking all sorts of synergies, and then got rid of the onerous royalties on some of the Higginsville concessions so they could begin exploring and producing from them.
And of course at any time they could hit another treasure chest of golden boulders like the one that propelled the share price to its ATH in 2018.
I do not see a huge COVID-19 threat to their operations, given that they are open pit and relatively isolated
More tomorrow. Apologies for any typos or misspellings; my eyes are not working well today. |
