Gold Profits from World Turmoil: Carlos Andres
TICKERS: LIO; LOMLF; LY1, MRY; MARL, IRL, NEM, SUE; SDDDF
Source: Brian Sylvester of The Gold Report (2/22/12)
Volatile markets. Natural disasters. Geopolitical turmoil. Last year was definitely one for the record books, according to Carlos Andres, managing editor and publisher of the Frontier Research Report. With the world in turmoil, is there any upside for mining investors? Andres believes there is for investors courageous enough to look past the perceived risk and snap up battered, but fundamentally sound, junior mining stocks. In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, Andres talks about why historical data points to a breakout year for gold and perhaps gold shares.
TGR: What does your research process involve when you're investigating a mining company?
CA: I generally visit exploration projects, interview management and perform extensive due diligence on all public and private information I can get my hands on. I'm very interested in looking for opportunities in emerging and frontier markets because they tend to be shunned for their perceived risk as opposed to actual risk.
Our approach is to take a close look at these companies, their projects, the jurisdictions they operate in, their management teams, financing, and investor relations as factors to get a feel for their prospects, regardless of the fact that they may be in emerging and frontier markets where perceived risk is fairly high. We pick the best of the best. Honestly, the more risk associated with these companies, the more we like it. It means we'll be able to buy the shares at depressed prices that don't reflect their inherent value.
TGR: What are some of those names?
CA: Sulliden Gold Corp. (SUE:TSX; SDDDF:OTCQX; SUE:BVL) in Peru is a favorite. It has an excellent management team. Its Shahuindo gold project represents a large, low-grade, bulk-tonnage affair with a deposit that is literally open in all directions, including at depth. The company continues to find mineralization in all directions that's consistent with what it has already found. It had 1 million ounces (Moz) defined when we first recommended the company in 2010. Since then the resource has grown to about 3.4 Moz and it likely has a long way to go before Sulliden finds its limits. We wouldn't be surprised if it has 5 Moz by the end of the year, and in our opinion the sky's the limit beyond that.
In terms of jurisdiction, Peru is one of the biggest gold producers on the planet with a mature mining industry; however, it has had a few hiccups on the local level lately. Some mining operations have experienced protests, sometimes violent, from the local communities, including Newmont Mining Corp.'s (NEM:NYSE) giant Conga project, which was under construction. There were serious local protests and, as a result, it shelved that project temporarily. The project appears to be back on track and Newmont expects to begin production from the new mine in 2015. Although we are watching all aspects of the situation in Peru closely, events have not been sufficient to cause us to turn negative on the country as a mining jurisdiction.
TGR: Sulliden recently purchased a 1.5% net smelter return royalty on Shahuindo for $11 million (M). Was that a good price, or did it create a lag on Sulliden's stock?
CA: I don't believe it caused a lag on the stock. Sulliden's stock price has retreated in lock step with the overall markets in general and along with the gold mining sector in particular. The current mine plan calls for 105,000 oz of annual production with a 10-year mine life. We think the mine life will ultimately be much larger than that. However, using these figures and a $1,500/oz gold price, Sulliden paid $11M now to obtain $24M in revenue over the 10-year mine life. That's not a bad deal and given that the deposit and the mine life are likely to grow, this is probably a shrewd move by management.
TGR: Sulliden recently had a drill intercept of about 54 meters (m) at 0.85 grams per ton (g/t) gold and 71.4 g/t silver in the central corridor of Shahuindo. What's interesting about that is the high-grade silver aspect of that intercept. Do you believe that this is becoming more of a silver play than a gold play and may garner some interest from some of the big silver players?
CA: It certainly has the potential. At current market prices, the gold deposit is roughly 2.6 times bigger than the silver deposit. If Sulliden continues to encounter silver grades and intercepts like this going forward, it may indeed reduce that ratio further, making it more attractive to silver players over time.
Fuente:
http://www.theaureport.com/