12/8/2016 — Gold Gold continues to thrive
By Ross Louthean
The subject of gold projects will be raised several times in the auditoriums and social gatherings during the 2016 AusIMM New Zealand Mining Conference, being held at Te Papa in Wellington early next month.
Market conditions, the performance of OceanaGold Corporation (TSX, ASX & NZX: OGC) and the emergence of two key Australian gold companies, Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN) and Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM), in North Island gold exploration, will reflect this interest.
The just-completed Diggers & Dealers Forum in Kalgoorlie – Western Australia’s gold capital – attracted about 1,900 delegates and two-thirds of the presentations were on gold companies.
That conference, the biggest mining event in Australia, also reflected better times for Australia’s iron ore sector through stronger prices – a factor welcomed by the Federal and WA governments which both have a strong dependency on iron ore royalties and taxes.
Diggers also showed the nickel sector was coming out of the basement, after mine closures early this year when the nickel price slipped below $US4/lb, and that there could be a strong future for emerging zinc projects with two of the world’s biggest zinc mines now being worked out.
For the Wellington conference, which opens proceedings on Sunday, September4 – after short courses and field trips the day before – there will be an interest in other metals, but for most junior companies attending gold will be a prime factor.
While the Kiwi gold price went up again against the US gold price briefly yesterday it was still very healthy, particularly for NZ’s dominant gold miner OceanaGold. The gold price was $US1,344/oz ($NZ1,854/oz).
Key speakers at Diggers & Dealers were seeing even more growth in the gold price in the next year, based on the great financial and political stability problems in the world. The diminishing likelihood of Donald Trump becoming President of the US was cited as one of the destabilising factors that would help gold.
This week Perth-based PCF Capital released its August report on commodities and companies, with gold again the leading commodity.
Featuring well on the gold front were Evolution, Newcrest and OceanaGold, and a lot of the information in the report was gleaned at Diggers & Dealers.
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