We could not find any results for:
Make sure your spelling is correct or try broadening your search.
Customisable watchlists with full streaming quotes from leading exchanges, such as LSE, NASDAQ, NYSE, AMEX, Bovespa, BIT and more.
| Share Name | Share Symbol | Market | Type | Share ISIN | Share Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pan African Resources Plc | LSE:PAF | London | Ordinary Share | GB0004300496 | ORD 1P |
| Price Change | % Change | Share Price | Shares Traded | Last Trade
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.15 | 3.34% | 35.55 | 4,497,330 | 16:35:17 |
| Bid Price | Offer Price | High Price | Low Price | Open Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35.45 | 35.60 | 35.75 | 33.50 | 33.50 | |
| Industry Sector | Turnover | Profit | EPS - Basic | PE Ratio | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold Ores | USD 321.61M | USD 60.74M | USD 0.0317 | 11.23 | 659.28M |
| Last Trade Time | Trade Type | Trade Size | Trade Price | Currency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16:36:27 | O | 2,151 | 35.599 | GBX |
| Date | Time | Source | Headline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01/10/2024 | 07:52 | ALNC |  IN BRIEF: Marileen Kok new Pan African Resources financial director |
| 01/10/2024 | 07:00 | UKREG | Pan African Resources Plc - Appointment of Financial Director |
| 25/9/2024 | 08:00 | UKREG | Pan African Resources Plc - Holding(s) in Company |
| 11/9/2024 | 08:45 | ALNC | Pan African Resources boosts annual profit 30% on strong gold price |
| 05/9/2024 | 13:13 | ALNC | Pan African Resources annual earnings set to rise on strong gold price |
| 05/9/2024 | 11:30 | UKREG | Pan African Resources Plc - Trading Statement for the year ended 30 June.. |
| 15/8/2024 | 15:06 | ALNC | IN THE KNOW: Berenberg bullish on Pan African Resources despite rally |
| 29/7/2024 | 13:04 | ALNC | IN THE KNOW: Berenberg dubs Pan African Resources performance "solid" |
| 29/7/2024 | 08:30 | ALNC | Pan African Resources annual production rises in line with guidance |
| 29/7/2024 | 07:00 | UKREG | Pan African Resources Plc - Operational Update for the year ended 30 June.. |
Pan African Resources (PAF) Share Charts1 Year Pan African Resources Chart |
|
1 Month Pan African Resources Chart |
Intraday Pan African Resources Chart |
| Date | Time | Title | Posts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14/10/2024 | 16:19 | Pan African Resources a sleeping giant | 1,867 |
| 10/10/2024 | 09:42 | Pan African Resources - Ripe for Takeover ? | 125 |
| 19/8/2024 | 10:35 | tuscan | - |
| 01/3/2024 | 11:28 | tuscan | - |
| 20/11/2023 | 16:21 | Pan African Minerals - Road to Takeover | 3 |
| Trade Time | Trade Price | Trade Size | Trade Value | Trade Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16:10:13 | 35.60 | 2,151 | 765.73 | O |
| 16:04:52 | 35.60 | 21 | 7.48 | O |
| 15:36:28 | 35.55 | 4,920 | 1,749.06 | O |
| 15:35:17 | 35.55 | 202,870 | 72,120.29 | UT |
| 15:29:54 | 35.60 | 83 | 29.55 | O |
| Top Posts |
|---|
Posted at 14/10/2024 09:20 by Pan African Resources Daily Update Pan African Resources Plc is listed in the Gold Ores sector of the London Stock Exchange with ticker PAF. The last closing price for Pan African Resources was 34.40p.Pan African Resources currently has 1,916,503,988 shares in issue. The market capitalisation of Pan African Resources is £682,275,420. Pan African Resources has a price to earnings ratio (PE ratio) of 11.23. This morning PAF shares opened at 33.50p |
Posted at 24/9/2024 13:28 by stonedyou Valuation: Nosing in towards 40pGiven our revised forecasts, our core (absolute) valuation of Pan African has increased by a material 16.8% to 48.08c/share (38.30p), based on projects either sanctioned or already in production. This valuation rises by a further 22.17–27.19c if other assets (eg Egoli and the Soweto cluster) are also taken into account. Alternatively, if PAF’s historical average price to normalised headline earnings per share (HEPS) ratio of 8.4x in the period FY10–23 is applied to our FY24 and FY25 forecasts, it implies a value of 38.30p in FY24, followed by 41.94p in FY25. As such, PAF’s current share price of 26.70p could be interpreted as discounting normalised HEPS falling to 4.00c per share (cf our forecasts of 5.73c/share for FY24 and 6.28c/share for FY25), which is barely above FY23’s level. In the meantime, PAF remains cheaper than its principal London- and South African-listed gold mining peers on at least 66% of commonly used valuation measures regardless of whether Edison or consensus forecasts are used. Performing a relative valuation analysis, its peers imply a comparable valuation for PAF of 63.21p based on our year one EPS estimate and one of 48.06p based on our year two EPS estimate. Separately, we estimate that PAF has the 18th highest dividend yield of the 62 precious metals mining companies expected to pay dividends to shareholders in the next 12 months (globally). Finally, we calculate that it is trading at an enterprise value that equates to just US$17.39 per resource ounce of gold. |
Posted at 13/9/2024 14:58 by stonedyou Question-and-Answer SessionA - Hethen Hira Thank you very much again for taking time. In terms of questions, we will first go to the conference call and see if we have any query or questions from the conference call, and then we'll go to the webcast. Operator First question comes from Cody Hayden of Berenberg. Please go ahead. Cody Hayden Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. And congratulations on the results. First, I have two questions. First, on the Evander underground expansion project, can you speak a bit more to the delays and how confident you are the Evander 8 Shaft project won't be further delayed beyond September? And then second, on costs. Can you get any insight into your inflation assumptions? And with MTR, can you bring costs lower further as well as with some of the renewable energy deployment? Cobus Loots Thanks, Cody. Yes. So definitely, the delay in the commissioning of sub-vertical shaft at Evander has set us back somewhat. But it's a temporary delay. I think generally, the team has done well in terms of managing. And yes, we're pretty confident that we are sort of weeks away now from commissioning. Fortunately, your project is progressing much better now. And that's just sort of the nature of underground operations. It's sometimes a bit more difficult, and that was the case here. So -- we -- as we've said, I mean, we expect to make up. There's a lot of gold sitting underground in the decline sections, which we'll be ramping and then doubling the hoisting capacity, obviously, will have a massive impact on the operation. In terms of inflation, we sort of -- when we do our budgets, we look quite carefully at all of the cost drivers. And then so we have a good understanding of sort of escalations, et cetera. So, I think we're fairly comfortable in terms of managing inflation, [indiscernible] in terms of the budgets because of the effect that we're running Elikhulu, we understand the cost structure and what it entails. So, we think we're quite comfortable with our guidance in terms of Mintel's costs. And then yes, definitely, renewable energy projects have a quite significant impact on the group. I mean we see the savings that we are currently banking at Evander on the first 10 megawatts. And obviously, Barberton is coming in should be steady state in terms of production -- solar production in the next month. So, as we expand this footprint, definitely, I think it will stand a good group and good stead. Operator At this stage, we have no further questions from the lines. Unidentified Company Representative Shall we even go to the webcast? Hethen Hira We've got a question from [indiscernible] from Truffle Asset Management. Thanks for the opportunity. Can you guide us on CapEx for FY '26, please? As Mintel's project CapEx falls off and forward sales runoff, and should be generating a lot of free cash flow. What are your plans with the cash? Cobus Loots Yes. So, it's correct. I mean if we -- certainly, the gold price holds -- I mean, we should be in for some very good times. It's also important to note that, I mean, this is the last year, FY '25, where we'll be spending so much money on the Evander underground. So, you have Mintails with the capital being done in the next couple of months. You have the Evander underground with the spend pretty much complete by the end of this year. Barberton is fairly stable. So, your CapEx should go down. Also, Elikhulu, the capital is very fairly pedestrian in this next year and then it sort of ramps up again. So generally, I mean, in terms of the gearing, we can expect the group to dig year also, I mean, in the last year, the gold price received was $2,080 and is currently sitting at above $2,500 per ounce. So obviously, that's going to come through. So yes, I mean, I think generally, Pan African has been quite good in terms of capital allocation, and that will continue to be circumspect and balance growth, reinvestment in our assets with cash returns to shareholders in the form of dividends. And that's -- that was what we've done in the past, and there's no reason to change that going forward. Hethen Hira The next question is would you use the gold price windfall to accelerate the debt repayment, and that's from Arnold Van Graan at Nedbank. Deon Louw Yes and no. We'd obviously like to, at the same point in time, accelerate our dividends. So, shareholders participate in the upside of the gold price. So, it's not mutually exclusive one or the other. We have demonstrated in the past that we can do both by paying the debt on Elikhulu back to the bankers well before its 4-year term. I think we've paid it back in 3 years. So yes, if our projections are correct on Mintails, we should pay the debt back in roughly 2.5 years. But at the same point in time, we want to balance that with increased returns in the form of cash to our shareholders. Hethen Hira Thanks very much, Deon. We've got a question from [indiscernible] at Investec Bank. Please can you give us color on the cash generation by operation. Deon Louw It's probably best to look at the segment analysis. But your two primary cash generation -- generators at this point in time, pre-Mintails commissioning is obviously Barberton, and Barberton generated an EBITDA of roughly $63 million relative to Evander's as a complex, $86 million. So that's really the gist of your cash generation at this point in time within the group and roughly the split between the two. Hethen Hira Thanks Deon. We've got a question from Lisa Stan at News 24. Please could you provide more color on the illegal minor issue around MTR? Have you encountered resistance or challenges related to [indiscernible] how exactly or practically are you managing to mitigate the threat? What kind of security do you have in place there? Cobus Loots Lisa, yes. So, we don't want to elaborate too much about what we're doing in terms of detailed security measures, but suffice to say that we have -- the security is a major focus for us in that area. Generally, I have to say our experience in terms of constructing MTR has been very positive. We've had a great impact in terms of the communities and cleaning up the site, working with law enforcement to reduce the issue of illegal miners. I mean we always say the safest place to keep your gold is actually in the tailing facilities. I mean it's not [indiscernible] or illegal -- do not have the ability to process 0.3 grams per tonne, so they're sort of focused on old foot plant footprints and outcrop areas. But generally, I think the fact that we managed to construct and will now operate MTR -- mining. It shows you can get major projects done in a very short space of time. And yes, I mean, our approach has been certainly fair to say multifaceted in terms of working with communities, with other stakeholders, regulators and all interested parties. And it's really been a fantastic success for us. Hethen Hira Related question from Arnold Van Graan. Could you please elaborate on your experience with working with reinforcement? Have you seen positive developments on this front? Cobus Loots I think so. I think there is definitely a willingness from law enforcement to make a difference and to cooperate. And I mean that's a good model to work with law enforcement for the benefit of all of the legitimate stakeholders, and that's what we're doing pretty much at Barberton and MTR at this point. Hethen Hira We've got [indiscernible] from SBG Securities. Could you please expand on the BTRP Sheba Fault project? Are there any technical reasons for slowing down development? How does this impact CapEx over the next 3 years? Does this mean a different project or resource will be prioritized? Cobus Loots Well, I think -- I mean it's a great win for us, the fact that we have managed to now extend the life of the BTRP, which was our first tailings retreatment business in gold from 2 years to 7 years with very limited capital, about ZAR100 million for the pump station. And then we have to also construct a new Barberton tailings facility probably FY '27, '28. So, I mean the BTRP has been a stock performer. Obviously, costs will go up as we then reprocess both limited capital and very good returns. And there's nothing wrong with the Royal Sheba project. It's quite simply a question of capital allocation and capital priorities. Many other places this deposit would have been developed 3 grams per tonne with a lot of prospectivity still. But I think that just speaks to the Pan African portfolio and the extent to the optionality, actually, we actually have and that means we have to rank projects because, again, we have to balance all of the sort of -- all the calls on capital. Hethen Hira Thanks for this question, I think, for Deon. What is the dividend policy as a percentage of cash flow or profit for this dividend and the coming years? Would Pan African considered by annual dividends? And that question is from Kevin King. Deon Louw The dividend policy is unchanged from last year, but still 40% of cash flow as defined by the policy, which is after capital, which has not been funded, essentially discretionary cash flow ratable to the company. So, this year, we -- given the circumstances, the imminent commissioning of the Mintails project, the group's cash flows, obviously, the gold price that Cobus referred to, we felt it's appropriate to be a little bit more aggressive and we have recommended a 52% payout of discretionary cash flow as is defined. But yes, going forward, we think 40% is healthy. As it relates to the interim dividend, it's something we'll consider on an ongoing basis, especially once we are comfortable with the cash flow generation from Mintails then we have a third complex cash flow Geologica complex, and it's an easier decision to make at that any time. Hethen Hira Thanks a lot, Deon. Rene Hochreiter from Nova Capital or Severina Research. Now it says excellent results and congrats to you and Deon for a remarkable 10 years growing the business. Please, can you give us the CapEx guidance for FY '25 and as many years as possible thereafter? Cobus Loots Sure. There's a detailed slide. Thank you for those comments. There's a detailed slide in the presentation. So -- we're spending the last of Mintails' capital this year in the next couple of months actually. And then also pretty much the last big slug in terms of Evander underground. And then from FY '26, the capital will reduce with obviously, Mintails will very limited capital likely a bit more as we now sort of look to go sort of start constructing remining facilities [indiscernible] Evander underground capital will come down quite a lot because as I said, major capital is done and then Barberton is pretty stable. So, I mean I do think that differentiates Pan African from many of our peers where you just have seen these capital build escalate and become larger and larger for guys to maintain production. And it's not the case for us. I think we're quite fortunate from that perspective. Hethen Hira A follow-up question from Rene is, what do you estimate your additional percentage costs over and above cash cost of security for reducing the impact of illegal miners? Cobus Loots More or less, it's in our cash cost already. So, it's quite a we don't foresee that sort of security cost to escalate by anything more than inflation in the years to come. I think we have that situation pretty much under control. Our teams do an excellent job and really the drive from our side is to use more technology-based solutions to combat illegal mining, and we're seeing that being very effective and actually also means that we can save costs. So, security costs are very much into our cash costs. So, I would not expect any huge surprises going forward from that perspective. Hethen Hira A few questions from [indiscernible]. Firstly, on Mintails, what Mintails volumes are you currently expecting for 2025? Did you not say in a recent report that Mintails can now produce 60,000 ounces per annum at $900 all-in sustaining and integrating the Soweto cluster, at $2,200 gold price, you said the payback was less than 2 years, not less than 3 years. Please confirm. Cobus Loots Yes. Well, look, I mean, whether it be 2 or 3 years. I mean I think we're trying to be a little bit conservative there, give ourselves a bit of headroom. I mean this is a new operation that is starting out. But I mean, where it's 2.5 or 3 years, I just think it's been an excellent success for us. So, in terms of the production, on a steady-state basis, full year production, probably about 55-odd ounces a year. So, 55,000, 60,000 ounces. Obviously, we're ramping up now with first gold being smelted in October. And then we've guided that we will be steady state by December. Hopefully, we can get there a bit sooner. The teams on the job -- on the ground are doing an excellent job. And the Soweto cluster is quite interesting. I mean, in itself, it could justify the construction of a new facility or a stand-alone facility, as we've said, producing sort of 8 million tonnes per month. We have significant resources and reserves in Soweto. So, the fact that we now have that footprint that gives us a lot of optionality in that area. So certainly, what we've said in the past holds true. But I mean, we're not going to sort of pressurize ourselves into a sort of a 2-year payback. I think if we achieve a 2.5 year or 3-year payback on $2.5 billion or $135 million of upfront capital. It really is an excellent achievement. Hethen Hira In terms of consult, it seems that consort production fell to less than 6,000 ounces, implying well less than 15 kilograms per month of gold. Consort costs might be 2,500 to 3,000 all-in sustaining. What is the hope not to dramatically reduce costs here? Cobus Loots I mean it's fair to say, Ed, that the consort, I mean if we look at what we've done at Barberton, continuous operations really have benefited both Fairview and Sheba. Consort is a bit of a cash. It's the only operation in our group that from an operating perspective is negative and it's not great. But we continue to believe into the future console. I mean we're doing what we can. If we did not believe that there was certainly the ability to turn it around, we would close the mine. If you look at the history of Consort, it is unfortunately been boom and bust. You have 2, 3 bad years, and then you have sort of 1 or 2 excellent years that sort of make up for the more difficult period. So yes, I mean, the gold is down there. We've had to do a lot of development now on that the PC shaft and development is done, so we should be able to get into better ground and ensure that console performs better going forward. Hethen Hira Also, from Ed, what is the long-term aspiration for all-in sustaining costs at Evander? Has your increased output towards long-term target of 65,000 ounces per annum in after 2026? Cobus Loots Yes. I think we calculated that you're probably looking at about long-term $1,300 to $1,400 all-in sustaining for the Evander underground, which compares very well to the rest of the global sector. So that would be we would like to get to. Hethen Hira Lastly, from Ed. As net debt falls rapidly this year and becomes net cash in 2026. Can you promise investors that returns to shareholders in the form of dividends and buybacks at less than 5 PE based on your guidance will now take precedent over CapEx that has reached a historic record? Cobus Loots Well, the CapEx reached an historic record for the right reasons. I mean, we invested 2.5 -- $135 million into a massive project for the benefit of shareholders over the next 20 years. So that's CapEx for the right reasons. If you look at our return on equity, I think we can rival pretty much anybody in the sector as far as our returns are concerned, and that demonstrates the ability to allocate capital in the correct manner, I think, and that will continue. So yes, certainly, dividends will continue and any capital allocation will be done in a very [indiscernible] manner. If you look at the cost of -- let's call it the opportunity cost or the structure we put in place to fund Mintails without any call on shareholders. That opportunity cost in the last year was in the order of ZAR200 million. So, if that wasn't there, then don't even this year with all of the capital would have been quite a bit higher. Hethen Hira Question from Jackson Martina. Given the current prices of gold, how much of a priority is given to the Sudanese exploration project? And when can the development feasibility be expected to conclude? Cobus Loots So, I mean, it's fair to say that, I mean, we -- Sudan at this point, I mean, exploration is continuing, but at a scale back -- on a scaled back basis, the war, obviously, is ongoing and it's a humanitarian crisis in the country. And we can't see ourselves investing large amounts of money until the situation stabilizes. So, it's unfortunate. Geologically, it's incredibly prospective but I mean, our exposure of the group is really limited. I think the carrying value of the Sudanese venture is in order of $5 million or $6 million on our balance sheet. So, it's not a huge exposure. And it doesn't make sense for us to invest hugely until the political environment stabilizes. Hethen Hira Arnold Van Graan from Nedbank again. Well done on the results and progress at Mintails. What's next to plan of Mintails in terms of growth for projects? Cobus Loots I think the nice thing for us, Arnold, is that we don't really have to go do a much more as we've mentioned, there's such a lot of opportunity in our own portfolio. And unlike many of the other producers, we don't have our production falling off of tiff anytime soon. I mean, we calculate we can sort of maintain the 250,000-odd ounces for many years. So yes, I mean, again, it comes down to assessing opportunities and making sure that whatever we do we can generate appropriate returns for shareholders. And I think that's a good position for us to be in. Hethen Hira And Arnold follows up with -- please share your views on M&A and geographical diversification. Are you looking at assets? Or do you have enough internal trust -- comfortable, sorry, are you comfortable with South African exposure? Cobus Loots Well, I guess we have to be comfortable with South Africa, given that all of our assets are here. Obviously, all of us know that there seems to be quite a bit more positivity around the country following the national elections and some progress it appears to be -- the country prepares to be making. And we have a long-demonstrated track record of operating successfully so we don't have to go and look elsewhere, just for the sake of diversification. It comes down to a specific opportunity. And again, if we can see the returns that we have demonstrated we can generate on investments. So that's what it really comes down to. And obviously, at sort of the sort of gold price, which is elevated, but still with, I think, a lot of positivity and potentially some tailwinds -- you have to be very circumspect. You can't run models on $2,500 indefinitely and make investment decisions on that basis. Hethen Hira Last question. Congratulations on the positive results and project execution. This is from SBG Securities and [indiscernible] could you please expand on your investment in PC MG? How does this fit into your long-term strategy? Cobus Loots Yes, it's -- again, I mean, we have a number of tailwinds. It's quite exciting for us. It's a very good time. PC MG is a strategic stake in what we think is a prospective gold and copper area in Australia, and it's not big in any way. So, it's not a strategic focus or a large focus for us at this point. Again, we have so many things to do in our own portfolio, and that's really the focus in the next one. Hethen Hira And the last comment from Arnold at Nedbank. Deon, thank you for all your help and assistance over the years. I enjoyed our debates. All the best for the future. Deon Louw Thank you. Hethen Hira Thanks very much, Arnold. And I think we have one question on the conference call line. Operator Last question was asked and answered. Thank you. Cobus Loots Well, thank you again to everybody for making time and if there is anything else you know where to find us. Have a great day. Thank you. Deon Louw Thank you. |
Posted at 13/9/2024 14:23 by stonedyou Pan African Resources PLC (OTCQX:PAFRF) Q4 2024 Results Conference Call September 11, 2024 5:00 AM ETCompany Participants Cobus Loots - Chief Executive Officer Deon Louw - Financial Director Hethen Hira - Investor Relations Conference Call Participants Cody Hayden - Berenberg Cobus Loots Good morning to all of you, and a warm welcome to our 2024 Final Results Presentation. Thank you very much for taking time of your schedules to join us today. We will keep the presentation fairly brief with an opportunity for questions afterwards. Joining me and presenting today will be Deon Louw, our Financial Director. You're welcome to refer to our SENS or in Ace announcement and to the supplementary information available on the Pan African website, should you require detail not dealt with in today's presentation. Please note the disclaimers and information on forward-looking statements on Slide 2 and Slide 3. Pan Africanstrategy is to position ourselves as a safe and sustainable, high-margin and long-life gold producer. I believe the last year, again, demonstrated Pan African's resilience our ability to generate attractive returns on our assets to grow in a responsible and value-accretive manner and to continue to pay a sector-leading dividend to our shareholders. In terms of dividends, we have paid almost $200 million to shareholders in the last 10 years. Today also marks the 10th instance that I am presenting the year-end results as Pan African CEO. Reflecting on the last decade, it wouldbe fair to say, the group, on occasion experienced tumultuous times. We don't get everything right all of the time. I think that is not possible in business, and certainly not in mining. What is, however critical, is to demonstrate tangible value creation for all stakeholders over the long term. And I believe Pan African can be proud of our record in this regard. Today, we have the added tailwind of a gold price pretty much at record highs in U.S. dollar and rand terms and also a generally bullish view in the market on the metal short- and medium-term prospects. Let me assureyou that the gold price windfall will not be wasted on Pan African. We are using the opportunity to invest into our assets for the long term to deliver on production growth that will benefit the group for many years to come and to continue to provide excellent returns for our shareholders. We are incredibly excited about our prospects for the next years, and I look forward to sharing some thoughts and further detail on many of our initiatives and plans in the following slides. On slide number 4, an overview of the presentation. We'll start with Pan-African Health and Safety performance, which is obviously critical in our business, and then provide an overview of the group and our operating environment, some key features from the past year, including our new exciting operation at MTR and detail on asset performance as well as our cost and capital outlook. We will then spend a couple of minutes on ESG before allowing Dion the opportunity to highlight elements of the group's financial performance for the 2024 financial year. The presentation will then conclude by outlining focus areas for the year ahead. If we then proceed to Slide number 6, our safety performance and our journey to Zero Harm. We continue to focus on safety initiatives and interventions and on maintaining an industry-leading record. We can also celebrate a number of safety milestones achieved during the last year. During our interim results, we report on the tragic fatal accident at Elikhulu earlier in the year. We are doing our utmost to ensure that the group has a safe year ahead. Slide number 8, a high-level representation of our unique portfolio of surface re-mining and underground assets. The addition of MTR or Elikhulu Mintails means that we now have three large mining complexes in South Africa, surface operations, reduce unit costs and turn legacy liabilities into profits, whilst the underground provides long life of mines, solid returns on investment as a result of a large sunk capital base and also attractive optionality, which we are bringing to account in a circumspect and considered manner, as demonstrated by our progress on the Evander underground. If there is one takeaway from this slide, is that we are growing profitable production very materially in the years ahead. We expect to be well north of 200,000 ounces of annual production in 2025 with MTR coming online. Pan African might not be the biggest gold miner, but -- and that is also opportunity. None of the majors can grow their production by 25% or more in a short space of time. This is what we will do in the next year. Slide 9, the coming year will also see us moving towards an even more balanced portfolio of low-cost and stable surface re-mining and high-grade, long-life underground assets. This asset mix should also reduce our group all-in sustaining cost profile, with both Elikhulu and Mintails, producing at an all-in sustaining cost of approximately $1,000 per ounce and the BTRP even lower. Slide 10, a bit more detail on our current asset mix. I think what is very helpful is that all of our assets now have extended lives, with the shortest life being a BTRP at 7 years, which is still quite a while. If we compare ourselves with the rest of the sector, many producers are running out of life on their assets or have to spend massive capital for future production, not the case for Pan African. We do not have to go and acquire more assets to maintain and grow production. Slide 12, our operating environment. We continuously seek ways of making our business less susceptible to adverse external impacts in South Africa. Some matters to highlight in terms of our operating environment over the year include the following: I think before the fact, there was significant concern around the South African general elections, which were held in May this year. Following the free and fair elections and the successful formation of a government of National Unity, we are definitely seeing some green shoots, so to speak, and quite a bit of optimism in terms of the South African economy. South Africa enjoyed strong foreign investment inflows over the last months. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange saw an over 5% uptick over the last 2 months,and SO bonds have also surged. The rand has been the best performer amongst the group of leading emerging market currencies against the U.S. dollar over the last month. And this trend can improve further, should we see positive reforms coming from government. Pan African is reducing our reliance on Eskom, South African electricity utility. So, more information on this in the ESG section of this presentation. Also, positively, South Africa has now experienced more than 100 days without any load shedding. In terms of title, Pan African assets have long lives with extended mining rights. The Evander's complex rights are valid until 2038 and those at Barberton until 2051. MTR's new auto-mining right is currently valid until 2029, we will obviously seek extension in due course. As far as stakeholder interaction is concerned, we invest heavily in our social license to operate. Pan African mines make a meaningful positive impact in the areas where we operate. We also announced a 5-year wage deal at Barberton this year, which will provide stability and the ability to further optimize this operation whilst limiting cost increases. Finally, from a security perspective, our efforts to safeguard our people and operations and minimize the impact of illegal mining and criminality are ongoing. I'm pleased to report that the people of [indiscernible] and Krugersdorp can already see a marked improvement in their area since we started our work at MTR. To conclude on this slide, Pan African's track record demonstrates that we can operate and grow in South Africa and do so very successfully. If we then proceed to key production costs and financial features from the year past on Slide 14, some of the highlights from 2024 include the following: we reported an improvement in overall safety rates. We produced just over 186,000 ounces of gold, an increase of more than 6% when compared with the previous year. Our team did well in terms of managing costs with a globally competitive all-in sustaining cost for the group. We are reporting an increase in profits of more than 30% with very manageable net debt levels and healthy liquidity. It is worth our noting that the U.S. dollar gold price only really started surging late in the financial year, and therefore, the full impact of the higher price should only come through in the year ahead. Gold in U.S. dollar terms is currently at approximately $2,500 per ounce versus the circa $2,080 we received in the financial year. And despite all the growth and capital reinvestment, we are able to maintain our sector-leading dividend to shareholders. Slide 15 should be an interesting one for our investors, demonstrating how nicely we have expanded margins in recent years, and this excludes any contribution from MTR. We believe that if we deliver our share price should take care of itself, and the recent while has reaffirmed this view. That being said, I think we are still in a strong position to benefit from the current gold price environment and from our own growth plans in the time ahead. If we then move on to more detail on the performance per operation, starting with Elikhulu on Slide 17. This really is a flagship asset for the group, 9 years of production remaining, producing at just over $1,000 per ounce. Our team managed to increase both production tonnes and recoveries through the mining of the Lazy Bracken tailings facility, with gold production increasing by some 9%. We look forward to another year of more than 50,000 ounces of production and clearly excellent cash flow generation and the current gold price environment. The asset generated $57 million of EBITDA in the last year. We are currently completing Phase 3 and Phase 4 of the Kinross tailings facility, the final expansion. These will be delivered on budget and on schedule in the next months. As we've said before, we are also carrying all of the learnings on building and operating Elikhulu over to MTR as we ramp up operations there. Slide number 18, BTRP, another sterling performance from our first gold tailings retreatment plant commissioned in 2013 and the lowest cost producer in the group. The BTRP management team also again deserves special mention, managing to reduce unit costs of production. I think very exciting news for the BTRP is that we have now managed to extend the life of this operation from surface re-mining only to 7 years. We will be reprocessing the Bramber tailings storage facility and other sources, again. The capital requirements for this new initiative is also relatively modest, around ZAR100 million or some $5 million for a new pump station and then a new tailing storage facility for all of the Barberton complex in due course. So, the bottom line, BTRP will continue to form an integral part of Pan African tailings retreatment story for many more years, and also allow us to develop Royal Sheba at a much slower pace. NTR on Slide number 19. Large-scale construction on site is now nearing completion, and we will be pouring first gold at this operation on the 3rd of October. Yes, the 3rd of October of this year, the project will be delivered under budget and ahead of schedule, which you will appreciate is not a common in the mining industry. We have built all of the plant and infrastructure in a little over 14 months, a testament to Pan African's ability to secure, conceptualize, fund and then execute world-class mining projects. In the current gold price environment, the payback on this $135 million initial investment should be under 3 years with a project life of more than 20 years, when we include the Soweto reserves. In terms of the Mogale cluster metals, the life is 13 years with total gold recovered more than 600,000 ounces. Additionally, the Soweto cluster consists of more than 130 million tonnes of tailings currently containing a mineral reserve of more than 0.5 million ounces of recoverable gold. This mineral reserve will extend MTR's life from 13 years to 21 years. Total gold recovered will increase to 1.1 million ounces. It's also important to note that we believe that we have enough gold reserves at the Soweto cluster to sustain a stand-alone operation, treating 1 million tonnes per month over an approximate 10-year life of mine. On Slide number 20, a picture of construction progress on site. And you can see that we are currently firmly on track in terms of the project execution time lines. Slide 21. We cannot say enough about the socioeconomic and environmental benefits of this project. Concurrent rehabilitation is in progress. We are uplifting local communities, providing much-needed economic and employment opportunities, and working with law enforcement to eradicate illegal mining. There were some skeptics on Mintails' MTR when we announced our intention to proceed with the project. I'm so pleased and we are about to prove them wrong. Slide 22. I think it's fair to say that Pan African has a record second to none, in terms of construction and operation of tailings retreatment projects. These long-life assets now form the cornerstone of our business. And I believe we have further room to grow in this space, which should be very attractive for our investors. Slide 23, the Evander underground team delivered in line with expectations, producing some 38,000 ounces for the year at an all-in sustaining cost of just over $1,300 per ounce. Now the delay in commissioning of the sub-vertical shaft for wasting has impacted us somewhat. This project will now be completed by the end of this month. We are pretty much been doubling our wasting capacity, which should allow us to play a bit of catch-up in the months ahead. I really believe this shaft with a western capacity of 40,000 tonnes per month will be a game changer for Evander. No more cumbersome conveyors, lower costs with a higher mine core factor. If we then proceed to Slide 24, dealing with Fairview, our flagship underground operation at the Barberton Mines complex. At Fairview mine, the Rossiter ore body enhanced production during the reporting period. Exploration drilling has identified a second high-grade structure, which intersects the Rossiter ore body and doubled the mineralized with, thereby increasing the volumes that can be extracted. This ore body average over 30 grams per tonne throughout the year. Additionally, downdip development at the MRC ore body on a deeper level at Fairview progressed according to plan, with top access to the high-grade 261 platform completed during May 2024. This platform grade averages 27 grams per tonne. The downdip development is being extended deeper towards a lower access of 261 as well as to the 262 platform, where exploration drilling successfully intersected the down-drop extension of the MRC. Rehabilitation of the existing ramp infrastructure from 38 level downwards is progressing according to schedule. This decline will be used to transport personnel and material to the working phases on the 3-shaft section and will further alleviate logistic pressures on 3-shaft, which will then mainly be used for rock wasting and improving logistics. Continuous operations at Fairview implemented in February 2023 resulted in a significant improvement in terms of tonnage output of tonnes increasing by 11% year-on-year from underground. Additionally, the processed grade improved from 11.7 grams to over 12 grams per tonne, a circa 4% increase year-on-year. The all-in sustaining costs for Fairview also improved from $1,546 in FY '23 to $1,434 mainly as a result of the 14% increase in gold production. The smaller underground operation at Barberton on Slide 25. At Sheba, development towards additional mineral reserve blocks on both the high-grade MRC and ZK ore bodies are progressing according to plan, with production improvements noted during the year. Development in the Sheba Fault project, Western Cross ore body is ongoing with initial mineralized intersection being exposed on a crosscut. This project is planned to eventually supplement feed sources to the BTRP plant, as well as to offsetting the treatment of low-grade surface sources at the Consort and Sheba plants. The continuous operating cycle at an even greater impact at Sheba Mine was tuned increasing by 18% year-on-year. The processed grade also improved from 4.9 grams per tonne to over 5 grams per tonne. A circa 6% increase year-over-year. In terms of Consort, following some due technical and mining difficulties, the group replaced the contract miner in order to improve production at the mine. The rehabilitation of the PC Shaft has been completed and now enables the contractor to recommence mining on the high-grade 41 to 45 level mining sections. Additional development is ongoing on the MMR shaft and the PC shaft to access reserve blocks, which will give us access to more ground to mine. On Slide number 27, section dealing with all-in sustaining cost. Almost 85% of our portfolio produced an all-in sustaining cost of $1,170 per ounce. Now Slide 28 illustrates that our cost performance continues to be very much in line and better than the average for a global sector, with most producers having experienced significant cost pressures in the last couple of years. Despite inflation, we should be able to maintain an all-in sustaining cost at between $1,350 and $1,400 per ounce in the coming financial year in U.S. dollar terms. On Slide number 30, group capital projects. We continue to invest into our assets and into growth with most of MTR's comfort capital now spent. For Evander, we expect CapEx to reduce in the next year as most of the large capital for '24 to '26 levels would have been spent. The accrued CapEx will also be fair addition in the year ahead of profiting spend fairly stable. ESG, Slide 32. I'm very proud of our achievements on this front, particularly on progress with renewable energy, water treatment and social projects. We really do make a positive difference where we operate. To elaborate further on our renewable energy road map on Slide number 33. We've completed construction of our Barberton solar facility, and we are currently ramping up generation from this plant, which should be fully ramped up in the next month. We further anticipate first power from our 40-megawatt 30-ag power purchase agreement during 2026. You can also expect other announcements on renewables from Pan African in the months ahead. Hopefully, we can add even more capacity. In terms of our student needs exploration venture, we are continuing activities on a scale-back basis. We are hoping that the wording parties can come to a resolution soon. I will now hand over to Deon, who will provide an overview of the financial results for the year. Deon Louw Thank you, Cobus. From Slide 36, you will notice the positive impact of the increased gold production and gold price of a full financial year's revenue, which increased by 17% to $374 million relative to the prior financial year. Production costs were well contained with all-in sustaining cost increases by only 3.4% in dollar terms, assisted by the average random exchange rate depreciation of 5.3% year-on-year. The tailwinds of an increasing U.S. dollar gold price and depreciating rand during the year delivered EBITDA by 23% to $141 million relative to the prior year. Attributable earnings increased by 30% to $79 million and earnings per share commensurately as no new shares were issued in the year. The 9% decline in operating cash flow to $91 million is due to an increase in income tax and royalties paid of $8 million and finance costs of $5 million. It also needs to be born in mind that the prior U.S. cash flows were also boosted by the upfront receipt of ZAR400 million, approximately $22 million from the sophistic gold forward sale transaction. We spent ZAR166 million in capital during the year, the bulk of it on the MTR project, and grew $71 million on our debt facilities, resulting in a predictable increase in net debt by $84 million to $106 million. Slide 37 demonstrates the extent to the group's available single debt facilities and funding of the MTR project. As mentioned in the past, our funding approach to projects of Elikhulu and MTR [indiscernible] in nature, is to fully fund the projects upfront capital with the debt redemption profile opted to its cash flow profile, leaving the rest of the group's cash flows largely unencumbered for other capital expenditure programs and returning cash to shareholders. Our core facilities comprised the RCF of $54 million and GBF of $8 million. The bar chart on the right of this slide shows the composition of the two senior debt facilities of $113 million dedicated to MTR's construction, which together with the $22 million received from the simplistic gold forward sale transaction fully funded the project's development costs without having to raise equity. Dividend also is a growing loan of $90 million dedicated to the funding of our renewable energy plants. This facility, which we can effectively June also provides for an embedded equipment option of $40 million for future funding requirements of this nature. On 15th June 2024, the senior facilities were fully drawn as expenditure of MTR peaks and to reduce the risk of a severe dip line in the rand gold price, will edit into a number of gold price hedges that will lock in the rand proceeds on 49% of the lower end of the group's 2025 financial year's guided ounces. The effect of these edges is that 18% of the 2025 financial year's production is locked in at a fixed price of $1,942 an ounce in terms of the Synthetic gold forward sale transaction and 31% locked in at a floor price of $2,147 an ounce and a cap price of $2,995 an ounce assuming an exchange rate of ZAR18.19 to the dollar. The synthetic gold forward sale transaction expires in February 2025 and a zero cost collars by 15th June 2025 were after the group is unhedged. It is however, likely that we'll continue to make use of short-term ranges on this nature, especially zero-cost collars to lock in cash margins and reduce short-term financial risk while participating in the upside to the level of the capital price. Slide 38 illustrates the magnitude of the quarterly principal and interest redemptions of the group's similar debt to June 2029, when all existing senior debt is extinguished. Until June 2025, [indiscernible] with only quarterly principal storms of a renewable energy facility being payable. But from September 2025, the early facilities redemptions commenced. And in December 2025, the 3-year bond with a nominal value of ZAR585 million, approximately $32 million which is the large spike in debt reductions in June 2026 comprises the $54 million bullet reduction on the RCF. Mintail's updated cash flow projections markup lets a buyback period of approximately 2 years post commissioning of the original electronic at [indiscernible]. What's astounding, it is likely that the RCF will again be extended as has been the case in the past as it constitutes a key component of our core financing facilities. We also have numerous approaches from financial institutions to anticipate to refinance of the in term of bond issue should further capital expenditure funding required in due course. Signal debt is expected to pick at approximately ZAR3.5 billion approximately $190 million towards the end of this calendar year, resulting in a debt-to-equity ratio of approximately 52%, still well within the senior debt covenant of one to one. Slide 39 tracks the group's historical dividend yields and yield of the proposed dividend of ZAR489 million or approximately $26.8 million for the 2024 financial year. The proposed 2024 financial year dividend is a payout ratio of approximately 53% of cash flow, as defined by the dividend policy and is an increase of 22% in rand terms and 26.5% in dollar terms relative to the prior year. With the share price doubling year-on-year, the dividend yield has declined to 3.6% relative to the 5.9% of the prior year when the closing share price was ZAR3.3 or 12.5p per share. On the basis that the proposed 2024 financial year dividend is approved by shareholders and paid in December with total dividends paid to shareholders during the first decades is $193 million. Finally, Slide 40 shows a return on the group's shareholder funds for the 2024 financial year, relative to a gold mining peer group. Return on equity and cash flow per share are two of the key parameters for measuring the success of our value grade and try and to inform our circumspect approach to capital allocation decisions and M&A. After a decline in the group's return on equity in the prior financial year, it has now increased to 25% for this financial year and post the imminent commissioning of MTR, we should again see it enter the aspirational range of 25% to 30% as MTR contributes higher margin answers to the group. Thank you. Cobus Loots Thank you very much, Deon. If we conclude on Slide 41, Pan African continues to be focused on delivery and execution. Key areas for us in the next year include the following: we will continue our proactive journey to zero-harm. We will successfully execute into our capital projects, including a very exciting MTR development, that will increase and sustain our future gold production profile at approximately 250,000 ounces per year. We will continue optimization and improvement initiatives to increase gold production as per our guidance and to further reduce costs. We look forward to progressing our ESG initiatives and our focus on maintaining our social license to operate, while also expanding our renewable energy footprint and rehabilitating old areas for the benefit of our communities. We will maintain our focus on generating sustainable shareholder returns, creating value for all stakeholders. And finally, we will continue to explore value-accretive options for further growth in a very circumspect manner as always. I would like to end my presentation by extending my thanks and appreciation to Deon Louw, who is retiring for some very well-deserved R&R. Deon will, however, remain available as a consultant to the group. Deon and I have known each other for more than 20 years and have worked together Pan African for more than a decade, is acumen, experience and advice greatly assisted and position Pan African where we find ourselves today. Deon, you are a fantastic colleague and a friend, and we wish you all the best for the future. Question-and-Answer Session |
Posted at 11/9/2024 11:36 by stonedyou Pan African Resources PLCAIM:PAF OTCQX:PAFRY JSE:PAN OTCQX:PAFRF Pan African confirms earnings soared in latest financial year Published: 13:24 05 Sep 2024 BST Pan African Resources PLC (AIM:PAF, OTCQX:PAFRY, JSE:PAN, OTCQX:PAFRF) said earnings for the twelve months to end June 2024 will be more than 25% higher than the year previously. A trading statement is a requirement of the Johannesburg stock exchange if earnings change by 20% from the year before and the South African gold miner said headline earnings per share (HEPS) are expected to be between US3.99c per share and US4.31c per share. That compares to US3.15c per share for the 202-23 or an increase of between 27% and 37%. Basic earnings per share (EPS) for the current reporting period would be between US3.98c per share and US4.30c cents per share respectively, an increase of 25% - 35%. Pan African added that revenue during the year increased by 16.8%, mainly due to an increase in gold sold of 4.9% combined with an increase in the average US$ gold price of 11.3%. Results for the year ended 30 June 2024 will be released on 11 September 2024. Shares rose 0.3% to 29.5p. |
Posted at 09/9/2024 11:05 by stonedyou Mike Maharrey: Greetings, I'm Mike Maharrey. I'm a reporter and analyst here at Money Metals and I'm here today with Chris Powell. He is a political columnist, a longtime newspaper editor, and the co-founder of the Gold Anti-Trust Action League, where he currently serves as the secretary and the treasurer. How are you doing today, Chris?Chris Powell: Very good to be with you, Mike. Mike Maharrey: Well, I really appreciate you taking a little bit of time to chat, and I thought we'd kind of start out and talk a little bit about GATA and the work that you guys are doing, and I want to start off this way. I think a lot of people, just your average guy on the street, if I go and say the gold market is rigged, that there's price manipulation going on in the gold market, I think a lot of people are skeptical of that and they're going to say, "Oh, conspiracy theory." And I'm curious from your perspective, if you're talking to somebody – you've got just a quick time, what is the most compelling evidence that you would present to somebody to show them the reality of what happens in these markets? Chris Powell: Well, I would explain that our work for more than 20 years has been to collect the documentation of gold market manipulation and intervention. If I was going to refer to a single document, I mean, I have lots of favorites, but one that I think is probably as compelling as any other is the speech that was given by the head of the Monetary and Economic Department of the Bank for International Settlements, William White back in, oh, I don't know, 2010 or something, it's on our internet site, he was giving a speech to a BIS conference at the bank's headquarters in Basel Switzerland, and he was talking about the four or five major purposes of international central bank cooperation, and one of those purposes was to influence asset prices, especially gold and foreign exchange in circumstances where this might be felt useful. That's on the record. That's what central banks do. Central banks rig the gold price. Why do they rig the gold price? They rig the gold price to defend their own currencies because gold is the prospective alternative international reserve currency, and if gold ever gets out of the box, they're through. Mike Maharrey: Yeah, and that was actually going to be my next question. What's the motivation? And I think you summed that up perfectly. Gold is real money and it's a challenge to the paper fiat that they can't seem to quit producing. I almost feel like I'm drowning in paper. In fact, I think Thomas Jefferson actually talked about being buried under a deluge of paper way back in the 17, 1800's. So yeah. Chris Powell: Oh, it's money without counterparty risk and it's money that's very hard to devalue. Well, central banking is largely a matter of cheating the public through inflation, and if there's any escape valve from that, escape hatch from that, any fire escape, people will take it. And gold is the fire escape. That's why they've always tried to control the gold price. So it does not reflect the inflation that central banks are inflicting on the world. Mike Maharrey: Do you think the kind of movement that we've seen, and it seems like to me that it's accelerated a little bit over the last year or so, this kind of movement of gold from the West to the West, where we're seeing a lot of demand for gold, not just from central banks, but also from individual investors, much more so in Asia, China, emerging market economies. Do you think that the central banking cartel in the west could be in danger of losing the control of what's going on, and do you see this as maybe a political move from some of these eastern countries… Chris Powell: Oh, absolutely. I think the western central banks have already lost control of the gold price. Look, if they still had control of the gold price, it wouldn't be at $2,500 today. There would be … a Louis d'Or would be the prize in every Cracker Jack box if central banks in the West had their way. Look, since I got involved in this crazy business, gold has gone from $250 an ounce to $2,500 an ounce in really just 25 years of my paying attention to it. That's not something central banks are very happy about, though I think in the end they may revalue gold. We'll talk about that just when they think that's going to serve their own purposes. But yeah, really the Western central banks here I think have kind of shot themselves in the foot. I mean, I would like to be able to take credit for raising the gold price from 10 times over the last 25 years, but I think it is, to a great extent, a matter of the stupidity of Western government policy and particularly US government policy, which has started to make other governments and central banks realize that, look, if the United States can confiscate Russia's dollar-based assets, it can confiscate anybody’s. So the security and safety of the dollar have been destroyed but have been destroyed by the US government. Mike Maharrey: Yeah, I've written quite a bit over the last year or so about the weaponization of the dollar and they put that into hyperdrive when Russia invaded Ukraine. And I'm curious from your perspective, they have to know, right? Or is it just a matter of arrogance that, "Oh, we can do this and we can get away with it." What's the mindset that says we're going to keep weaponizing our currency to our own detriment, or do they really not see it as their detriment? What do you think? Chris Powell: I think in the end, that as the US economists Paul Brodsky and Lee Quaintance wrote a decade ago, I think there is a general understanding among central banks coordinated through the BIS that the gold price is going to have to be revalued for a number of reasons. International politics is one of them. The debt burden on government and society is another one. But I think all central banks know this. They know it now, they might not have known it 10 or 20 years ago. I'm convinced that GATA was responsible for informing the Bank of Russia about Western gold price suppression policy. The deputy chairman of the Bank of Russia Oleg Mozeskov gave a speech to an LBMA conference in Moscow, oh, when was it? 15 years or so ago, in which the only words of English he spoke were Gold Antitrust Action Committee. To the best of my knowledge, up to that point, we had never had any contact with anybody in Russia. Mozeskov's speech was an indication that quite to our surprise, the Bank of Russia was paying very close attention to our work. We know from the WikiLeaks cables of Bradley Manning and the guy who ran WikiLeaks and has just been given a plea bargain, that China long has known about Western gold price suppression policy. The WikiLeaks cables are full of Chinese news organization reports, reports from news organizations that are controlled by the Chinese government, which reported about gold market rigging by the West and particularly by the United States. Those cables, which WikiLeaks disclosed were sent from the US Embassy in Beijing to the State Department of Washington, many cables talking about gold market manipulation by the west in order to support and sustain the dollar. Well, the WikiLeaks cables show that not only has China known all about Western gold price suppression policy for years, but the US government knows that China knows because the reports were cabled to the State Department. Now, I've had some face-to-face contact with some other central banks and some correspondence with them, and while most of them don't want to have anything to do with me, I did get a couple meetings with Central Banks who beautifully heard me out, and some Central bank people around the world are on GATA's mailing list. And I think we have informed, I think, a few people who wouldn't necessarily have known about it otherwise. But as a general matter, Mike, insofar as most major central banks are members of the Bank for International Settlements and they have directors and meetings every month, to which you and I are not invited, I am very confident that most of the central banks around the world are fully aware of Western Central Bank price suppression policy and that they are coordinating their response to a change in this policy. Mike Maharrey: Did you see the report? I think it came out of TASS out of Russia, that the Russians are apparently planning on ramping up gold purchases here. Chris Powell: Yes starting tomorrow. Mike Maharrey: Yeah. What do you of that? Chris Powell: What do I make of it? What the hell took them so long!? Russia is a commodity producing country, has a lot of gold in the ground. I think this should have been apparent to them long before they learned about it from us. I mean, certainly their intelligence agencies are better than our work, but it makes perfect sense. Gold in hand can't be sanctioned. Gold is the only plausible alternative to the dollar as a reserve currency, as an alternate reserve currency. Yeah. The Russians have finally figured this out. Look, not long after GATA had its conference up in Dawson City in the Yukon back in what, 2006, something like that. We had a very prominent Russian, supposedly a confidant of President Putin at that conference. He told us that it was the greatest conference he ever attended, and a few weeks later, president Putin was photographed at a gold conference in the Russian Far East holding a gold bar, and he was quoted as saying he had instructed the Bank of Russia to start buying gold on all markets. The world has figured this out. I mean, I despair of retail investors ever figuring this out in a big way, and certainly I despair of mainstream financial news of organizations ever telling the truth about gold and about market rigging. But all the major, and I think some of the minor central banks around the world know, and I think they are preparing a world in which gold is the reserve currency, the once and future money. Mike Maharrey: Yeah, I was going to ask you about that if you thought that, because there's a lot of proposals that seem to be floating out there about competing currencies. You've got the cryptocurrencies, you've got the Zimbabwe, they've got their ZiG now, which is a gold backed currency. You've got BRICS talking about a currency. You think the gold is what's ultimately going to win the day? Chris Powell: Well, what else are you going to use? I mean, if people want to believe in cryptocurrency, I welcome anybody who wants to get into the currency business, let currencies compete. That's really the fair and democratic thing to do. I do not have much faith in crypto. I mean, I have to rely on somebody to tell me that the crypto program really does what everybody says it does. How do I know that? I mean, crypto is a phantom to me. Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't work, but gold is tangible. If you're holding it, you're holding it. You don't have to understand any computer programs or anything like that. It's been money for thousands of years because it met of all of Aristotle's prerequisites for money, it's money today because it has no counterparty risk when you're holding it yourself and it's accepted everywhere as even Alan Greenspan said, it's better than an American Express card. So what else are you going to go to? I can't see them resorting to anything else but gold. It has universal recognition as money. It's real. It's not going to disappear when the power goes out or the internet services is cut off. Now, if you have more faith in something else, good luck to you. Mike Maharrey: Yeah, I agree with you completely. I'm a big fan of let the market sort it out, but I'm inclined to agree with you as well. Adam Glapinski, and I probably just butchered his name, but he's the governor of the Central Bank of Poland, had a great quote. This was a couple of years ago, and incidentally, Poland for folks who don't know, has been one of the biggest central bank gold buyers this year. And he said basically exactly what you said about the fact that it is the one thing that we can hold on to that nobody can turn it off, right? There's no switch that can be flipped. There's no electronic thing that can happen that can wipe it out. It is a tangible physical thing, and that's exactly why Poland is seeking to, at least according to their public plans, increase their reserves to at least 20% of gold. Chris Powell: Yeah, well, JP Morgan said that gold was money and everything else is credit. And if he meant by that everything else is counterparty risk, I'd go along with him completely. Mike Maharrey: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And for folks who maybe don't know what counterparty risk is, it's basically just the fact that on most assets, somebody is standing on the other side that could conceivably default or make it go bad. And gold doesn't, it is what it is. So I wanted to talk a little bit about an article that you wrote that we published over at Moneymetals.com/News Chris Powell: One of my favorite documents, which I think was discovered, well, it was either by Ronan Manley or Jan Niemanhuis some years ago, is the transcript of a conversation in US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's office in April 1974 with his deputy assistant secretary Thomas O. Enders, in which Enders is explaining to Kissinger why the US must keep its European allies from remonetizing gold or giving gold any more of a role in the world financial system. Enders is telling Kissinger that the Europeans now have more gold than the United States does. Collectively, they had more gold than the United States did, and that whoever has the most gold has the power to revalue it from time to time and thereby change all asset and currency valuations in the world. Enders told Kissinger that gold is what he called the reserve creating instrument. If you can assign gold's value, you can create more money reserves for yourself. You can change the value of all currencies and assets and goods and services in the world if you control the gold price. Hence, Enders told Kissinger, we can't let the Europeans control the gold price. We have to control the gold price in order that we can control the value of the dollar and the value of everything else. That's the point. Gold is the great reserve creating instrument. You can assign values to it and thereby create money if you want. I mean, the United States could do this now, we technically, the Treasury technically values our gold at $42 and 22 cents per ounce for all those 8,133 tons. We supposedly still have possession of. If the United States wanted to change the valuation of that gold, it could just change the valuation of it and give orders to the Federal Reserve that the gold certificates you now hold are now worth trillions and trillions more than you're carrying them on the books. Please credit the gain to our account and issue a lot of currency against that gold. It's the reserve creating instrument. It's an accounting mechanism by which you can create money. That was what was the behind the platinum coin idea, that they wanted to use the obscure law about the Treasury's authority to mint platinum coins in any denomination. Well, that was thought to be a thing for collectors, but they looked at the law carefully a few years ago and realized, wait a minute, you could make any denomination of a platinum coin? Well, you could tell the Treasury to have them make a trillion dollar coin, deposit that trillion dollar coin over at the Fed and tell them, we want to cash this coin. And the Fed would create a trillion dollars or 10 trillion, however you wanted to denominate the coin. The benefit to the United States of using a platinum coin for reserve creation rather than gold is that the platinum coin with the high denomination deposited at the Fed would create reserves only for the United States. But if you revalue gold, every nation in the world that has a gold reserve, if the gold is to be revalued upward, is going to benefit from that revaluation and the revaluation of gold suddenly would be more democratic. That's why I think certain elements in the United States would much prefer the platinum coin denomination at a trillion dollars rather than gold revaluation, because then the United States would get all the reserve creation. Mike Maharrey: Right, right, and that's effectively what Franklin D. Roosevelt did back in the 1930s, right? I mean, he tried to get more gold by taking it from the public, and then he simply valued it higher and in effect created a bunch of currency. Chris Powell: You wrote the definitive essay on that the other day, didn't you? The reason Roosevelt did that was because the law at the time required a, what, 40% gold backing for the dollar, and Roosevelt was sitting in the middle of a catastrophic deflation. He wanted, I think rightly, he wanted more money circulating in the economy. Under the law, he couldn't create it unless the Treasury had more gold reserves. That's why Roosevelt wanted the gold. He wanted the gold to put it into the government so that the government could create more money against it. Again, gold in that circumstance was the reserve creating instrument. Mike Maharrey: I think people don't understand, or most people out there don't understand the fact that central banking and their ability to create money, I call it the engine that drives the biggest government in history of the world. If it wasn't able to create money out of thin air, if it was really even restrained, much less actually having where gold actually is money, there's no way that they could borrow and spend to the extent that it does, and without the ability to borrow and spend that takes power away from politicians. And I think really, if you want to get into the psychology of the whole thing, that's it right there. It's a matter of power. I mean, you could literally say gold is power. Chris Powell: Yes, infinite money is infinite power, and you don't want that floating around for God's sake. That's the end of humanity. It's the end of democracy. But I would never say that central banks are creating money out of nothing. Every currency is backed by something. It's backed first by the economic production of the country that's issuing the money, and secondly, it's backed by the tax power of the government issuing that money. There's a great essay, I forget the guy's name right now, but I can look it up. Back in the forties. The essay was titled, I guess, Taxation for Revenue is Obsolete. It was written by the president of the New York Fed at the time, and he was explaining that modern governments, when you're relieved of a commodity standard for your money, if you're not on a gold standard anymore, if there's no fixed rate of convertibility from your currency into gold, they can create as much money as they want, and they don't tax because they need revenue, they can just print it up, they can type it in, they tax to give value to their currency, they tax to create demand for their currency. If you didn't have to pay your taxes in dollars, well, people might start using almost anything else for money, especially if the dollar was being inflated away. Mike Maharrey: Right. Chris Powell: So, fiat currencies do have some backing. They have the economic production of the country whose goods and services of purchasable in that currency, and they have the tax power which is backing, but they don't have enough goods and services and production of tax power to support all the money they've been issuing in the last few years, at least not without running the currency down to zero. Mike Maharrey: Right, exactly. And I'll wrap up on this, and this is a little bit of speculation. Well, no, it's a lot of speculation, but obviously we've seen situations in history, Zimbabwe comes to mind, we've seen it in Venezuela where you have hyperinflation where the currency just completely collapses, and sometimes you'll hear people say, "Well, that could happen here in the United States." Do you think that the government or any major Western government is in danger of overplaying its hand and collapsing its currency, or is that kind of something that's maybe a scare tactic? Chris Powell: I think we're on that very brink right now, Mike. I think, I did a little calculation the other day that United States is spending, I believe, 27% more money than it's taking in tax revenue. Now, you can get away with that for a while, but we are living off the rest of the world because we rely on the rest of the world to lend us money, and the rest of the world is beginning to wake up that that's not such a good bet, that the dollar is being devalued by inflation, so why are buying long-dated US government bonds? If the rest of the world ever decided, no, we don't want to buy your bonds anymore, and all of a sudden the US bond market crashed, well, the dollar would crash soon afterwards. So I think we're at that point already. We have alienated much of the rest of the world and we're living off the rest of the world borrowing its money. That's one thing that Mozeskov in his speech 15, 20 years ago said, he noted the irony of the richest country in the world, the United States, living off borrowing from poorer countries. That was a moral wrong, and here's an Russian telling us about a moral wrong. And he was absolutely right. We think of ourselves as the good guys. We're exploiting the rest of the world, especially the poor countries. Mike Maharrey: I saw today along those lines that the US trade deficit was, excuse me, at the highest level since May 2022. So we're giving them dollars and we're taking their stuff. Chris Powell: We get oil and electronics and commodities from them, and we pay them in colored paper and electrons. Mike Maharrey: Yeah. Chris Powell: It's a nice racket while it lasts. Mike Maharrey: I was going to say it's a good gig if you can get it. Unfortunately, we can't do that. We'll end up in prison. So before we wrap up, why don't you let people know how they can follow the work that you're doing over at GATA and get the information that you're handing out? And one thing I would highly recommend folks, just get on your email list and get your emails because you guys send out a lot of great information thats not necessarily out there on CNBC or Fox Business, but how can people follow what you're doing? Chris Powell: Well, thank you, Mike. Yeah, our internet site is GATA.org. We have a daily newsletter. Sometimes I'll send out several dispatches a day, then some days we don't really have much to say, but getting on our dispatch list is free. You can sign up for our dispatches, put the mechanism in the top right column of our internet site. You can subscribe to the daily dispatches to get all of them at once. You can subscribe to a summary to dispatch so your email box doesn't get quite as cluttered. We're a non-profit educational and civil rights organization. We're recognized as tax-exempt by the US Internal Revenue Service or a 501c3 organization. We survive off contributions from anybody who cares to support us. We have a little support from the mining industry, though I think 99% of the mining industry is brain-dead, doesn't have any idea that it's in the money business. Mike Maharrey: I know, they're digging money out of the ground and then they sell it for fiat. Chris Powell: Yeah, well, I've lost that battle. They're never going to understand that. But we do see contributions from anybody who wants to help the struggle for transparency and limited government and sound money and all that. We welcome checks payable to GATA sent to our corporate address here in Manchester Connecticut. And if it really wasn't for people who, I guess they're dreamers like us, we wouldn't be here. But we survive on generous donations from the public, and I think we could use some more today. Mike Maharrey: Yeah, absolutely. And I want to reiterate something that you just mentioned. If you are a person who cares about limited government, if that's a thing and that's important to you, I would argue that you're probably not going to get that by voting for the next great president or whatever. I think limited government is really going to come through reforming this monetary system because again, that's the rocket fuel that makes the whole thing go. So if you're a limited government person- Chris Powell: You can't have limited government without limited money. Infinite money is infinite government. Mike Maharrey: Perfect. Chris Powell: And that's the road to hell. Mike Maharrey: Yeah, absolutely. That's a great quote. I'm going to write that one down and keep it. Well, I appreciate you taking the time out of your day and appreciate your insights and we'll definitely have you back on again as we move on, and we'll try to keep people informed and make people more informed. Chris Powell: Thanks for your work too, Mike. Mike Maharrey: Thank you. Bye-bye. "You can't have limited government without limited money. Infinite money is Infinite government and that's the road to hell." A profound quote by our good friend Chris Powell right there… and that’s a great way to put a bow on this week's podcast. And I sure hope you will consider supporting GATA, as we do here at Money Metals. We think it’s important Chris and his team have the resources to continue their important work. If you can help, please go to their website by typing GATA.org. Well, that will do it for this week. Be sure to check back next Friday for our next Weekly Market Wrap Podcast. Tune in as well to the Money Metals Midweek Memo, hosted by Mike Maharrey and airing each Wednesday. To listen to any of our audio programs just go to MoneyMetals.com/podc Until next time, this has been Mike Gleason with Money Metals Exchange, thanks for listening and have a wonderful weekend everybody. |
Posted at 04/9/2024 11:11 by salisbury3 Hoping that the FY2024 annual results presentation on 11 September will give the share price a bit of a boost. The fact that production was at the lower end of expectations has dragged the share price back a bit this last week. |
Posted at 01/8/2024 10:46 by stonedyou Pan African Resources PLCAIM:PAF OTCQX:PAFRY JSE:PAN OTCQX:PAFRF Pan African receives highest average gold price in its history. Pan African Resources PLC (AIM:PAF, OTCQX:PAFRY, JSE:PAN, OTCQX:PAFRF) said gold production was 186,039oz in the year to end June, within guidance and an increase of 6.2% year-on-year while its received gold price was its highest ever at US$2,021/oz. The gold miner added it expects Fairview Mine’s 8.75MW solar photovoltaic generating plant to generate its first power next month and provide 15% of Barberton Mines’ energy requirements, saving US$2.4 million annually. Independent feasibility studies are in progress to expand Evander Mines’ current 9.975MW solar facility and for a new solar plant at the Mogale Tailings Retreatment operation, added the statement. Cobus Loots, Pan African’s chief executive, said: “We are pleased that the group has again delivered into its production guidance while further improving safety rates. “The surface tailings retreatment operations at Elikhulu and the BTRP performed exceptionally well, with some of the lowest all-in sustaining production costs in Southern Africa. “The group is poised to deliver another world-class tailings retreatment operation ahead of schedule and below budget in the coming months with the MTR Project. “Barberton Mines has seen a steady improvement in gold production, with planned optimisation initiatives to increase ore tonnages expected further to bolster gold production in the next financial year. “Commissioning of the ventilation shaft hoisting system at Evander underground during the start of the 2025 financial year, will substantially improve efficiencies and reduce reliance on the cumbersome conveyor system currently in use, vastly improving this operation’s production profile and facilitate the 25-26 Level project’s development." Pan African added that finance director Deon Louw has announced he is to retire with Marileen Kok taking his place. “We would like to thank Deon for his commitment and the significant contribution he has made to the group over the years,” said Loots. |
Posted at 01/8/2024 09:09 by bandflex hxxps://www.edisongrValuation: Trending higher Given our updated forecasts, our core (absolute) valuation of Pan African has increased from 48.08c per share to 48.41c per share (37.72p), based on projects either sanctioned or already in production. This valuation rises by a further 22.35–27.37c if other assets (eg Egoli and the Soweto cluster) are also taken into account. Alternatively, if PAF’s historical average price to normalised headline earnings per share (HEPS) ratio of 8.4x in the period FY10–23 is applied to our FY24 and FY25 forecasts, it implies a value of 37.41p in FY24, followed by 52.43p in FY25. As such, PAF’s current share price of 28.15p could be interpreted as discounting normalised HEPS falling to 4.31c per share (cf our forecasts of 5.72c/share for FY24 and 8.02c/share for FY25). In the meantime, PAF remains cheaper than its principal London- and South African-listed gold mining peers on at least 69% of commonly used valuation measures, regardless of whether they are based on Edison or consensus forecasts. Performing a relative valuation analysis, its peers imply a comparable valuation for PAF of 52.31p based on our year one EPS estimate and one of 48.49p based on our year two EPS estimate. Separately, we estimate that PAF has the 24th highest dividend yield of the 61 precious metals mining companies expected to pay dividends to shareholders over the next 12 months (globally). Finally, we calculate that PAF is trading at an enterprise value that equates to just US$19.72 per resource ounce of gold. |
Posted at 14/5/2024 20:44 by stonedyou Jim Rickards: Why gold at $27,000 isn't such a crazy prospectSubmitted by admin on Tue, 2024-05-14 10:29 Section: Daily Dispatches By James G. Rickards Daily Reckoning, Baltimore Tuesday, May 14, 2024 I've said that gold could reach $15,000 by 2026. Today I'm updating that forecast. My latest forecast is that gold may actually exceed $27,000. I don't say that to get attention or to shock people. It's not a guess; it's the result of rigorous analysis. ... Dispatch continues below ... $27,000 Gold I’ve previously said that gold could reach $15,000 by 2026. Today, I’m updating that forecast. My latest forecast is that gold may actually exceed $27,000. I don’t say that to get attention or to shock people. It’s not a guess; it’s the result of rigorous analysis. Of course, there’s no guarantee it’ll happen. But this forecast is based on the best available tools and models that have proved accurate in many other contexts. Here’s how I reached that price level forecast… This analysis begins with a simple question: What’s the implied non-deflationary price of gold under a new gold standard? No central banker in the world wants a gold standard. Why would they? Right now, they control the machinery of global currencies (also called fiat money). They have no interest in a form of money they can’t control. It took about 60 years from 1914–1974 to drive gold out of the monetary system. No central banker wants to let it back in. Still, what if they have no choice? What if confidence in command currencies collapses due to some combination of excessive money creation, competition from Bitcoin, extreme levels of dollar debt, a new financial crisis, war or natural disaster? In that case, central bankers may return to gold not because they want to, but because they must in order to restore order to the global monetary system. What’s the Proper Gold Price? That scenario begs the question: What is the new dollar price of gold in a system in which dollars are freely exchangeable for gold at a fixed price? If the dollar price is too high, investors will sell gold for dollars and spend freely. Central banks will have to increase the money supply to maintain equilibrium. That’s an inflationary result. If the dollar price is too low, investors will line up to redeem dollars for gold and then hoard the gold. Central banks will have to reduce the money supply to maintain equilibrium. That reduces velocity and is deflationary. Something like the latter case happened in the U.K. in 1925 when it returned to a gold standard at an unrealistically low price. The result was that the U.K. entered the Great Depression several years ahead of other developed economies. Something like the former case happened in the U.S. in 1933, when FDR devalued the dollar against gold. Citizens weren’t allowed to own gold, so there was no mass redemption of gold. But other commodity prices rose sharply. That was the point of the devaluation. Resulting inflation helped lift the U.S. out of deflation and gave the economy a boost from 1933–1936 in the midst of the Great Depression. (The Fed caused another severe recession in 1937–1938 with their customary incompetence.) The policy goal obviously is to get the price “just right” by maintaining the proper equilibrium between gold and dollars. The U.S. is in an ideal position to do this by selling gold from U.S. Treasury reserves, about 8,100 metric tonnes (261.5 million troy ounces), or buying gold in the open market using freshly printed Fed money. The goal would be to maintain the dollar price of gold in a narrow range around the fixed price. What price is just right? This question is easy to answer, subject to a few assumptions. $27,533 Gold U.S. M1 money supply is $17.9 trillion. (I use M1, which is a good proxy for everyday money). What is M1? This is the supply that is the most liquid and money that is the easiest to turn into cash. It contains actual cash (bills and coins), bank reserves (what’s actually kept in the vaults) and demand deposits (money in your checking account that can be turned into cash easily). One needs to make an assumption about the percentage of gold backing for the money supply needed to maintain confidence. I assume 40% coverage with gold. (This was the legal requirement for the Fed from 1913–1946. Later it was 25%, then zero today). Applying the 40% ratio to the $17.9 trillion money supply means that $7.2 trillion of gold is required. Applying the $7.2 trillion valuation to 261.5 million troy ounces yields a gold price of $27,533 per ounce. That’s the implied non-deflationary equilibrium price of gold in a new global gold standard. Of course, money supplies fluctuate; lately they’ve been going up sharply, especially in the U.S. There’s room for debate about whether a 40% backing ratio is too high or too low. Still, my assumptions are moderate based on monetary economics and history. A dollar price of gold of over $25,000 per ounce in a new gold standard is not a stretch. Obviously, you get around $12,500 per ounce if you assume 20% coverage. There are many variables in play. The Fundamental Model This model is also straightforward. It relies on factors we learned about in our first week of Intro to Economics — supply and demand. The most significant development on the supply side is the decrease of new mining output. As the chart shows below, mine production of gold in the U.S. has been decreasing steadily since 2017. These figures reveal a 28% decrease over seven years, at the same time gold prices were rising and miners were motivated to expand output. That’s not to argue that the world has reached “peak gold,” (output could expand in future for a variety of reasons). Still, my contacts in the mining community consistently report that gold is becoming more difficult to source and the quality of newly discovered ore is low-to-medium at best. Flat output, all things equal, tends to put a floor under prices and to support higher prices based on other factors. The Demand Side The demand side is driven largely by central banks, ETFs, hedge funds and individual purchases. Traditional institutional investors are not large investors in gold. Much of the demand from hedge funds is conducted in derivatives such as gold futures. Derivatives generally don’t involve physical delivery of gold. They involve “paper gold” that far exceeds the actual, physical gold supply. It’s this paper gold market that accounts for volatility in the gold market, not gold itself. Meanwhile, central bank demand for gold has surged from less than 100 metric tonnes in 2010 to 1,100 metric tonnes in 2022, a 1,000% increase in 12 years. Central bank gold demand remained strong in 2023 with 800 metric tonnes acquired through Sept. 30. That puts central bank gold demand on track for a new record. There’s no sign of that demand slowing in 2024. Overall, the picture is one of flat supply and increasing demand, mostly in the form of official purchases by central banks. A Math Lesson Finally, a bit of elementary math is helpful in understanding how the dollar price of gold can move past $25,000 per ounce in the next two years. For this purpose, we’ll assume a baseline price of $2,000 per ounce (although gold has been in the $2,300 range lately with no signs of falling back to the $2,000 level). But for our purposes, we’ll keep it simple. A move from $2,000 per ounce to $3,000 per ounce is a heavy lift. That’s a 50% increase and could easily take a year or more. Beyond that, a further increase from $3,000 to $4,000 is a 33% increase: another large rally. A further gain from $4,000 per ounce to $5,000 per ounce is a further gain of 25%. But notice the pattern. Each gain is $1,000 per ounce, but the percentage increase drops from 50% to 33% to 25%. That’s because the starting point is higher while the $1,000 gain is constant. Each $1,000 jump represents a smaller (and easier) percentage gain than the one before. This pattern continues. Moving from $9,000 per ounce to $10,000 per ounce is only an 11% gain. Moving from $14,000 per ounce to $15,000 per ounce is only a 7% gain. Gold can move 1% in a single trading day, sometimes 2% or more. As an extreme example, a move from $99,000 per ounce to $100,000 per ounce is about a 1% move. Those $1,000 pops get even easier as we approach my calculated gold price of $27,533. The lesson for you as an investor is to buy gold now. As prices continue to rally, you’ll get more gold for your money at the outset and high-percentage returns as gold rallies from a lower base. Toward the end of the long march past $25,000 per ounce, you’ll have bigger dollar gains because you started with more gold. Others will jump on the bandwagon, but you’ll already have a comfortable seat. |
Posted at 13/11/2023 17:23 by justiceforthemany If you're a shareholder here and want the share price to rise then email Investor Relations because the share price consistently closes at a lower price than the JSE in SA. There is blatant manipulation going on here keeping the share price suppressed.Why is PAF trading at just 3-4x P/E? hhira@paf.co.za |
It looks like you are not logged in. Click the button below to log in and keep track of your recent history.
Support: +44 (0) 203 8794 460 | support@advfn.com
By accessing the services available at ADVFN you are agreeing to be bound by ADVFN's Terms & Conditions
Hot Features
Premium
