I think one more quarter will have the hoi polloi convinced.
Analyzing Dec 08 vs Mar 09, I estimate that for Dec 08, before tax but after cap ex, TRY lost about $1.9m. However, for Mar 09, they made about $2.6m.
By gold produced & grades, the quarters were similar. Regarding costs, Brazil showed a 9% improvement, whereas WA costs improved from $A806/oz to $A539/oz. The other main difference? Average gold price of $A1,339/oz in March vs $A1,085/oz back in December qtr.
So, reduced costs accounted for about $A2.9m of the turnaround, with increased gold price accounting for $2.7m. (There was an extra $1m spent on cap ex + exploration in March, as well).
What will the Jun 09 qtr bring? There are some punters starting to bet it will be quite good, by the looks of recent SP action.
TRY has a good track record of continual improvement at their operations. Just look at what they already have mined, waiting to mill in Brazil:-
At the end of March Andorinhas had the following stockpiles: Lagoa Seca High grade 25,154t at 4.56g/t, low grade 254,665t grading 2.28g/t, Mamão stockpile 5,052t at 11.8g/t, which represent approximately 15 months mill feed.
Nice! Plus, they are now solely mining high grade, underground ore, so expect grades to either hold or improve from now on.
TRY Price at posting:
$1.36 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
