Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Serge Ladouceur who wrote (41756)	10/1/1999 10:36:00 AM
From: Giraffe	Respond to of 116764

Canada miners' expansion plans unmoved by gold rally (All figures in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted) By Paul Simao TORONTO, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Canada's largest gold producers said on Thursday the dramatic rise in the price of bullion would not alter their plans to suspend development and production at a series of projects scattered around the world. Placer Dome Inc. (Toronto:PDG.TO - news), North America's third-largest producer, has suspended its $575-million Las Cristinas project in Venezuela and temporarily closed its Turqoise Ridge mine in Nevada, while bigger rival Barrick Gold Corp. (Toronto:ABX.TO - news) has said it would close two mines in Chile. Vancouver-based Placer, whose share price has soared more than C$7 to as high as C$24.95 this week in step with rising bullion prices, said the gold rally would not change its development plans. Placer shares fell 10 Canadian cents to C$21.95 on Thursday on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Bullion shot up almost $59 to a peak of about $327 an ounce this week after 15 European central banks pledged to cap gold sales during the next five years. Central bank sales were a key factor in gold's plunge this summer to 20-year lows. Gold fell back on Thursday to trade at $298.50. ``The gold prices took three years to slide to their lows and we've had four days (of gains), so there's no certainty yet. We require a lot of stability,' Placer spokesman Hugh Leggatt said. Leggatt said development of Las Cristinas, located in the remote southeastern jungles of Venezuela, remained suspended, though he added Placer was continuing to study ways to make the project more economic. The company's Turquoise Ridge mine, acquired last year as part of a whopping $1.1-billion takeover of Denver-based Getchell Gold Corp., will be closed for one year as previously planned, Leggatt added. Placer said it would use the temporary closure to lower operating costs and raise production, a feat it also hopes to accomplish at its 50-percent owned South Deep mine in South Africa. It paid $235 million to South Africa's Western Areas Gold Mining Co. Ltd. last November for the right to co-develop the promising deposit near Johannesburg. The Canadian gold miner hopes to lower the project's cash costs to $200 an ounce by the end of the year. Higher gold prices have also failed to prompt Toronto-based Barrick, North America's second-largest gold producer, to depart from its planned closure of the El Indio and Tambo mines in northern Chile. Barrick announced its intention to halt production at the mines in 1997, but has delayed the closures as its staff continued to explore the properties and enact a program to reduce costs. The company now says the open-pit Tambo operation will close in the first quarter of 2000 and El Indio at the end of the year, though it added that these plans could be postponed again if more economically viable ore were discovered. Barrick, however, is steaming ahead with development of its prized Pascua gold mine, which straddles the border of Chile and Argentina. The $950-million project is expected to begin production in 2002 with annual output of 675,000 ounces at an average cost of $125 an ounce. Barrick shares fell 75 Canadian cents to C$32.00 in late afternoon trading on Thursday in Toronto. Analysts, many of whom have called for further consolidation in the hardpressed gold sector, said they were relieved the two large Canadian producers had not revised development plans due to the gold rally. ``I'm glad to hear it...I would be a little bit concerned if companies were making dramatic changes in their operating plans just because you get a little bit of an uptick,' said Manford Mallory, analyst with Canadian brokerage Research Capital Corp. in Toronto. Mallory, who predicted bullion would not long stay above $300 an ounce, said the gold sector would be healthier if it embraced consolidation and shutdowns of high-cost mines as has happened with copper and aluminum producers.

To: Serge Ladouceur who wrote (41756)	10/1/1999 12:38:00 PM
From: IngotWeTrust	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116764

Hi, Serge, welcome to SI's gold corner of heaven. I see by your profile you are interested in mining. Are you fortunate and own your own? Is it a dream? Do you prefer equity ownership as opposed to say, physical holding of the yellow. I'm interested in how you came about your interest in mining, as it is also one of my interests as well. You picked a good day to join us with your first post to this thread. Gold has awakened from a 19 year nap with a jolt, and is up $8+ this AM just on squaring short-term short positions over the weekend. NY COMEX traders hate taking ANY positions home over the weekend. Especially when there is unsettling news arising from many sectors. Chime in and help us discuss the most fascinating topic in the world! Old 49'er