by comparison

Morning All,

I may well be sin binned for a month shortly, so let me take this opportunity to throw up a few charts.

Commentary is limited. You can draw your own conclusions, if any are indeed to be drawn.

Notes:
1. These graphs are the top 9 (I left of Newcrest which is clearly number 1) gold producers in Australia based on Mar-12 quarterly production figures.
2. Cash operating costs are "raw" from reports. They may / may not include royalties
3. Market Cap is today's Cap versus a year ago today - approx only.

So, what are these graphs you may ask? It essentially provides a very rudimentary comparison with our competition for the investment dollar. They are not designed to show FML as good or bad, they are what they are.

PRODUCTION V MARKET CAP
This chart shows the last quarters (Mar-12) production figures and the current market capitlisation of each company.

This is the same chart, but based on figures from a year ago (Mar-11 quarter). Easy to see how things have changed.

This chart expresses the change between Mar-11 and Mar-12 data in % terms of the change in production and market cap.

PRODUCTION AND CASH COSTS
Same production % change as above, but this time overlayed with the change in cash costs. Interestingly, and except for Evolution, Integra and Silver Lake, the red % change in cash costs and market cap are inverse (as you might expect). Definitely shows a link between a rise in cash costs and a decline in market cap - not definitive, but a link exists.

Simple chart showing how cash costs have changed in $$$ terms over the past 12 months. St Barbara, Evolution, Norton and Regis being the only 3 companies able to reduce cash costs in times of high labour and energy costs over the same period.

Finally, Cash Costs v Market Cap. Focus, Norton and Saracen are firmly in the middle of the production profile but have 3 of the 4 lowest market caps. Why is that I wonder...