Pan African Resources Share Discussion Threads

[juuunx2] 28/7/2020 09:11

Well said I think maybe a bit ocd with world trouble

[astjgroom] 28/7/2020 08:10

Stonedyou. Mate I'd rather not hear all the problems in the world, like you I'm pleased PAF is going up but I'd just as rather there were peace in the world than to make money on a share...

[stonedyou] 27/7/2020 23:26

Gold And Silver Are Just Getting Started


The U.S. Mint made an unusual request last week. In a press release dated July 23, the bureau literally begged Americans to start putting coins back into circulation by spending or depositing them.

As you may have noticed, people just aren’t making transactions with coinage like they used to. That’s especially the case now in the age of the coronavirus. With many people sheltering-in-place, billions of dollars in everyday purchases are being made online that in normal times would have happened at the cash register.

This is creating a national coin shortage.

“Until coin circulation patterns return to normal, it may be more difficult for retailers and small businesses to accept cash payments,” the Mint writes, adding that for millions of Americans, cash is the only form of payment. Without coins, retailers can’t break bills.

[skiski] 27/7/2020 21:11

Gold mining stocks with proven reserves going up everywhere. This is more to with Gold Backed currency in the pipeline than anything else.

[spaceavenger] 27/7/2020 18:12

With the gold price surge PAF will be awash with cash. Even the Rand price is highly favourable aswell.They should PAY OUT a decent dividend and not simply pay off debt.The prospective P/E is a ridiculous 3 so this time next year they will be totally debt free anyway so PAY OUT!!

[stonedyou] 27/7/2020 16:10

China says South China Sea rights grounded in history


China's foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said today that China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea would not be altered by unjustified accusations from any country, state media reports.

The spokesperson made the remarks at a daily press conference in response to Australia's accusations against China over the South China Sea.

China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea were established throughout a long course of history and have been upheld by successive Chinese governments, Wang said

"They are consistent with international law including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and cannot be altered by the unwarranted allegations of any country," he noted.


China firmly opposes Australian side's remarks, which ignore facts and violate international law and basic norms of international relations, Wang added.

[stonedyou] 27/7/2020 14:56

EU split on China as Beijing-Washington conflict worsens


The European Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank headquartered in Berlin with offices across Europe, recently conducted research on how most Europeans see China during the novel coronavirus pandemic in nine European Union (EU) member states. In total, 48 percent of respondents' views about China have worsened. To be more specific, in France and Denmark, the percentage hit a high of 62 percent. The figure for Italy was as low as 37 percent.

According to a survey carried out by the German magazine Der Spiegel, around 46 percent of Germans hope Germany to distance itself from China.

European countries' divided stances over China have been highlighted against the backdrop of pandemic. The disease spread severely in EU member states, especially in Italy with the initial stages of the outbreak. At that time, major European powers, such as France and Germany, had limited supplies for fighting COVID-19. At the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, major countries such as France and Germany did not give sufficient support to Italy, Spain and other EU countries gravely hit by the virus. This made these countries feel helpless. China's lending a helping hand at that time at least morally boosted China's popularity among the people of these countries, such as Italy.

[risa5] 27/7/2020 14:28

Some nice pics of golden rocks...

A mine in Mpumalanga hit a hugely rich vein – and the gold is easily visible

Pan African Resources has found a rich vein of gold at a Barberton mine – more than double what is normally considered high quality.

Initial chip samples of the body ore indicated local grades in excess of 300 grams per tonne of milled ore, with an average density of around 25 grammes per tonne – more than double normally considered high quality.

The mine where the vein was found has been in continuous operation since 1928.

Gold mining company Pan African Resources (PAN) has announced the discovery of a high-grade gold vein – in places, extraordinary so – at its New Consort Mine near Barberton, in Mpumalanga.

So rich is the ore that in many cases it can be seen with the naked eye.

The ore body is said to contain “mineral reserve of 5,000 tons at an average grade of 25g/t delineated” while “initial sampling revealed grades in certain areas in excess of 300g/t,” said Pan African resources in a statement.

G/t is a measure of grams per tonne in milled ore, a universal metric of the value of a deposit of precious metal. And Pan African's numbers describe a very rich vein.

The World Gold Council defines an underground mine of high quality is one that has a gold ore density between 8 and 10g/t, “so this is a very high-grade gold ore body", says Chantal Marx, investment analyst at FNB Wealth.

The company has been attempting to access the ore body since December 2019, in an area close to where mining had been halted in the 1990s. It finally succeeded in May 2020, after operations resumed following the easing of lockdown regulations.

That, and a high gold price, helps make Pan African attractive to Marx, despite already being at a record high.

“Pan African is a high-quality company within the domestic gold mining space. While the gold price is very high currently, it may remain high for some time due to prevailing uncertainty related to the Covid-19 outbreak," she said.

“Gold mining companies will benefit during this period and generate strong cash flows. This could provide support for share prices, despite them having already run hard."

New Consort has been in continuous operation since 1928.

[risa5] 27/7/2020 14:28

Pan African does it again with exciting rich vein of gold at New Consort

JOHANNESBURG (mining weekly.com) – London-, Johannesburg- and now also New York-listed Pan African Resources continues to demonstrate the resilience of its operations with an improved all-round performance, despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

[risa5] 27/7/2020 14:28

There is a embedded video in this link...

Pan African does it again with exciting rich vein of gold at New Consort

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – London-, Johannesburg- and now also New York-listed Pan African Resources continues to demonstrate the resilience of its operations with an improved all-round performance, despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the last year, Pan African has taken strong steps to reduce all-in sustaining costs, to focus on its surface tailings retreatment business, which is doing exceptionally well, and to do additional exploration development at its underground assets, specifically at Barberton.

“All of these things are coming together quite nicely at the moment, and we’re seeing it reflected in our results,” said Pan African CEO Cobus Loots, who was stricken by the coronavirus three weeks ago and has now recovered. (Also watch attached Creamer Media video.)

Loots was speaking to Mining Weekly a day after the publication Business Insider South Africa reported on the discovery of an exceptionally high-grade gold vein at Pan African’s New Consort mine in Barberton.

“So rich is the ore that in many cases it can be seen with the naked eye,” Business Insider commented, in reporting that New Consort’s deluxe vein of gold was “more than double what is normally considered high quality”.

Showing a picture of a mineworker holding two big pieces of gold-bearing ore, the publication stated that the initial chip samples indicated local grades of 300-g/t-plus of milled ore, with an average density of around 25 g/t, at a time when the rand gold price is close to a million rand a kilogram and dollar price projections continue to point upwards beyond $1 800/oz.

“The rich vein at New Consort is fairly small but certainly, in our view, it will turn around the fortunes of the mine, which has been struggling for some years to make profits,” said Loots.

“It delivers into what we said to the market last year, about being busy with a number of initiatives to increase production from Consort, to make sure that it contributes to group profits going forward.

“We also have a number of additional exploration targets at the mine. Many years ago, Consort was actually Barberton’s richest mine and what we’re doing at the moment, plus the exploration targets, will stand Consort in good stead for the years ahead,” Loots added to Mining Weekly.

Development into the first target block on 42 level of Barberton’s New Consort Mine – Prince Consort shaft – was completed last month.

ORGANIC GROWTH PROJECTS

The good news from New Consort is just another example of the ongoing organic growth of the gold reserve base of Pan African, which has a knack of making its internal projects work.

The Elikhulu tailings project is a case in point. When the R1.8-billion Elikhulu project was launched, an initial payback of four years was forecast. But at this gold price, and given the top performance of the asset, payback will be in less than three years.

Moreover, hot on the heels of Elikhulu is the Egoli project, also at Evander, but this time an underground project, and it looks like being another winner. No shaft work is necessary as the existing twin-vertical shaft system extends down to a depth of 1.6 km. Ore will be fed into a fully operational plant at Kinross, and all the other required infrastructure is in place.

Funding is being finalised, detailed project planning is advancing and a development plan update is likely in September.

On the company’s strong share price performance, Loots says: “We know that gold is a cyclical commodity and it’s fair to say that currently we’re in a really good rand gold price environment.

“We not only have the dollar gold price working for us. We also have a fairly weak rand. Even though it has strengthened recently, it still means a gold price which is just south of a million rand per kilo, which is very attractive,” Loots added.

AMERICAN DEPOSITORY RECEIPTS

As reported by Mining Weekly earlier this month, Pan African bolstered its already strong London and South African shareholder base by establishing a sponsored Level-1 American Depository Receipt (ADR) programme on the over-the-counter market in the US, with the Bank of New York Mellon being the appointed depository.

In doing so, Pan African joins a number of its gold peers that have successfully implemented an ADR programme.

“The US market, in terms of liquidity and the investor base, is massive. We’ve done very well in both the UK and South Africa in terms of our shareholder base, but we’re looking to access the depth of the market in the US, specifically in this gold price environment, and we should be doing so, given the quality of our assets, and the fact that we’re a long life and safe producer. We tick all the boxes and we’ll see how it goes,” said Loots.

The Barberton Mines achieved three-million fatality-free shifts during June 2020, a record for the past decade, and Elikhulu has gone for 11 months without a single lost-time injury.

“The focus is on safety. It’s been a key area for us for many years and it’s about trying to see that we keep achieving results. But as we said in our operational update, safety’s never done until we have absolutely no incidents and issues at our operations. It’s a journey and we’ll continue on this journey,” he said.

ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIOECONOMIC AND GOVERNANCE

Environment, socioeconomic and governance (ESG) initiatives have been prioritised further through increased expenditure on rehabilitation and sustainable development projects that include large-scale agricultural projects at Barberton Mines, and the initiation of a feasibility study for a solar plant at Barberton Mines.

Pan African has been placing much emphasis on the ‘S’ in ESG, with particular emphasis placed on it during lockdown.

“It’s ongoing. If you look at our initiatives over certainly the last three, four months, since the start of the pandemic, we’ve gone to great lengths to look after our own employees and also the communities that surround our operations.

“Those efforts will continue and we recognise that certainly in the Barberton area, and also in Evander, where we operate, we’re the largest employer in those areas and the largest economic activity, so to speak. So, we need to make a positive difference, which we are doing and we’ll continue to do so,” he said.

Covid-19 assistance has risen to R5-million and R3-million worth of hygiene, water and food hampers to the company’s 2 600 Barberton Mines employees, as well as to near-mine families and local communities around its Fairview, Consort and Sheba operations.

SOLAR POWER PLANTS

Much emphasis is also being placed on the ‘E’ in ESG, evidenced by the board’s approval of a 10 MW solar power plant at the Elikhulu gold-from-tailings operation, which will lower the carbon footprint as well as the electricity bill after its 12-month construction period.

“Given the improvements in technology, in recent years, this sort of project makes all the sense in the world. We have the support of government. The Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy has come out quite strongly to say that, to the extent that we experience bottlenecks, we need to let his department know. So we have supported government. From an economic perspective, it makes sense.

“The solar plant will supply 30% of Elikhulu’s power. It’s a fairly limited capital item of about $7-million to $8-million. We estimate the payback on that investment to be, again, sub four years, so quite attractive, and it will be the precursor for us to look at further similar initiatives in the group.

“We would hope to expand the plant at Evander for a portion of Egoli, number one, and we’ve also commenced a feasibility study at Barberton for a similar plant at Fairview.

“Initially, we don't have a storage solution as part of the project but we certainly leaving the flexibility so that we can install storage going forward, which means that we could potentially increase the percentage of power that we get from these projects in the years to come,” Loots explained.

DIVIDEND INTENT

Earlier this month, in an operational update for the year ended June 30, Pan African reported intensified dividend intent and revealed that it was within striking distance of zero debt in the next 12 months.

On the company’s current dividend outlook, Loots said: “Well, it’s always a balance between degearing, which we’re doing very nicely if you look at our operational update we put out earlier this month; reinvesting into our assets, which we’ve always done to ensure that they are sustainable over their long lives; and then returning cash to shareholders.

“In the past, Pan African has been a leading dividend payer in terms of our yield, in the global gold space and we’d like to get back there in the years to come.

“At the prevailing gold prices, assuming no major interruptions from Covid and assuming that we can achieve our guidance for the year ahead, which is 190 000 oz of gold, we should have pretty much no debt on the balance sheet in 12 months from now,” he said.

An all-in sustaining cost level of below $1 000/oz is the ongoing target.

“We’re very proud of our people and what they have achieved. These are exceptionally difficult circumstances and times. They’re unlikely to get easier soon. We have to deal with it in a responsible manner and that’s what we’ll continue to do,” said Loots.

[risa5] 27/7/2020 14:27

Pan African should be debt-free this year and hopes to increase dividends as production grows

Pan African Resources plc's (LON:PAF) Cobus Loots tells Proactive its gold production increased by 4.1% in the year ended June 2020.

Loots says the strategic focus for the year ahead remains on optimising operations and de-gearing the balance sheet with the intention of increasing dividends in the years ahead.

[stonedyou] 27/7/2020 11:36

Money in pursuit of hopelessness: the gold price has hit an all time high

Posted on July 27 2020


The FT has a headline, just out:


As they note:


Gold soared to an all-time high and the dollar weakened to a multiyear low as sharp increases in US coronavirus cases and flare-ups around the world weighed on investor confidence.

The price of the precious metal, which investors typically view as a haven in times of uncertainty, climbed as much as 2.2 per cent to a record $1,944.71 per troy ounce on Monday. Its value has jumped by more than a quarter this year, making it one of the best-performing asset classes.

A series of thoughts inevitably follow.

The first is that this is the clearest possible indication that there is a savings glut in the world.

Second, it strongly implies that this savings glut is most extreme amongst the best off, who are those who typically save using gold.

[stonedyou] 27/7/2020 11:28

East Asia Forum Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific


Crunch time for US allies and partners in navigating a new Cold War
27 July 2020

Author: Editorial Board, ANU

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo now leads the gathering charge in Washington to

wage a new Cold War on China. All doubts about that were dispelled in his fiery

speech at the Nixon Library last week and in his mission to lock Boris Johnson and

the United Kingdom in behind him immediately afterwards. Australian Foreign

Minister Marise Payne and Defence Minister Linda Reynolds, on their way to

Washington for bilateral talks, will fly straight into the middle of this brewing

geopolitical cauldron.

[stonedyou] 27/7/2020 11:06

The West cannot stand by as Beijing sets its sights on Taiwan



The difference between Taiwan and China is as stark as the difference between South and North Korea
 
Taiwan is our friend - and we must defend our friends
 
The frontline in the fight for freedom has shifted from Hong Kong to Taipei

Earlier this month, the Chinese Communist Party regime broke its promises, violated an international agreement and destroyed Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms. In so doing, they provoked international outrage – sanctions from the US, a generous immigration offer from Britain, Australia and Canada, and the suspension of extradition agreements with Hong Kong by several countries.

But it would be a mistake to think either that those measures are enough, or that Beiing’s takeover of Hong Kong is the end of the matter. Indeed, it is just the beginning.

[stonedyou] 27/7/2020 11:00

Chinese fighter jets spotted on tiny base in disputed South China Sea territory


China deployed at least eight fighter jets this month to an artificial island in

the South China Sea as the United States and its allies conducted large-scale

drills in the area, satellite images show.

The aircraft, including four that appear to be J-11B fighters and four that have

the same dimensions as the JH-7 anti-ship fighter bomber, are visible in the

images from July 17, according a report that day by the U.S. government-funded

Radio Free Asia.

The aircraft were on a runway at Woody Island, China’s largest military base in

the Paracels, a group of islets in the northern part of the South China Sea that

is claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam

[stonedyou] 27/7/2020 10:57

Gold hits new record high and there's more to come....

Gold futures just touched $1928 taking out the Intraday high of $1923.70 in 2011.


11-Week Run

Gold is on a huge 11-week run. The last time gold did that was at the 2011 high.

Is a pullback in order? A Gold COT chart says otherwise.

Gold COT Chart


Room to Run

Analysis of the Gold COT Chart suggests there is still plenty of room left to run. Details show why.



•Normally, gold advances in the short- to mid-term as the big specs or managed money expands position.
•The opposite occurs during long liquidations.

That is what prompted me to write on April 6, 2020 Gold's New Breakout is Very Bullish: Here's Why.

It is bullish that gold advanced with smart managed money missing most of the move. At some point FOMO kicks in.

A pullback can happen at any time, including now, but the fundamentals for further advancement: monetary printing, COTs, and of course faith in central banks are firmly in place.

[stonedyou] 27/7/2020 10:56

US-China Tensions Continue To Escalate


Video


We’ve seen a remarkable escalation in US-China tensions over the past few days.

Before we get into the details of what it may mean from an economic perspective, I wanted to talk to Casey Fleming, CEO at BLACKOPS Partners. Casey’s been studying America’s relationship with China for over a decade.