Focus Minerals Ltd (ASX:FML), a leading Australian gold producer and explorer, is pleased to report a strong result for the half year ended 31 December 2011.

Highlights:

– Total 1H gold production more than doubles to 80,921oz(1*) (69,858oz attributable to Focus), up from 36,339oz in the previous corresponding period

– Consolidated Revenue for 1H 2012 of $104.5M, 113% up from $48.8m for 1H 2011

– Net Operating cash flow up 67% to $21.3M

– Consolidated 1H Net Profit After Tax of $5.9M excluding non-recurring costs Focus’ operations on target for gold production of circa 175,000oz(2*) for full financial year

Significantly, gold production for the half year increased by 122% to 80,921oz (69,858oz attributable to Focus) and operating cash flow increased 132% to $29.5 million. This production increase was driven by the ramp-up of operations at Coolgardie and the addition of the Laverton Gold Project, driving a substantial increase in revenue, up 113% to $104.5 million.

I hold FML and look forward to seeing continued success. See my earlier FML posts to see why.

http://www.brrmedia.com/event/93330/mr-campbell-baird-ceo

“But consider that the silver market is a hundred
times smaller than the gold market. Put another
way, all the silver bullion in existence is worth less
than the market capitalisation of ANZ Bank.”…. Diggers and Drillers
Monday, 27th February 2012
Melbourne, Australia
By Dr Alex Cowie

Snippets from Miningweekly.com:

Global gold demand topped the $200-billion mark for the first time ever in 2011, with demand increasing to 4 067 t, the World Gold Council (WGC) reported on Thursday.

This was also the highest tonnage level since 1997.

The WGC said that the main driver for this increase was the investment sector, where yearly demand reached 1 640 t during the year, up 5% from the previous record set in 2010, and valued at around $82.9-billion.

Demand for gold bars and coins also continued to be robust, climbing by 24% to 1 486 t.

India remained the largest source for demand with 933 t, which the WGC said was notable, considering the volatility of the gold price and the weakness of the Indian rupee against the US dollar during the second half of the year.

In India, gold jewellery accounted for over 500 t of demand, while the investment market demand reached 366 t. Indian demand accounted for 25% of total bar and coin demand worldwide.

In China, yearly demand of 769.8 t was up 20% year-on-year as a result of increases in both jewellery and investment. The largest rise was in investment, where demand of 258.9 t with the value of RMB84.5-billion leapt 69%. Read full article

In a sign of sheer desperation Obama is said to be seeking a greater than 5% (gross) royalty on gold, silver, copper and other hard rock mining and also imposing a $4 fee per acre for non producing oil and gas leases on Federal land. Echoes of Australia’s resource rental tax and of “socialism induced” sovereign risk. read more

And has a LONG way to go… note the extremely LOW % of Forex reserves.

Need a good Forex adviser? Tell Alex that Sparty referred you.

Public release date: 2-Feb-2012
[ Print | E-mail | Share Share ] [ Close Window ]

Contact: Richard Mellor
[email protected]
44-011-334-34031
University of Leeds

A silver bullet to beat cancer?

The internet is awash with stories of how silver can be used to treat cancer. Now, lab tests have shown that it is as effective as the leading chemotherapy drug – and may have fewer side-effects.

Results from the study at the University of Leeds, published in Dalton Transactions, show that particular silver compounds are as toxic to cancer cells as the platinum-based drug Cisplatin, which is widely used to treat a range of cancers.

But the crucial difference is that silver is thought to be much less toxic to healthy human cells, and in some cases, can be beneficial. Silver is currently used for its antiseptic and antibiotic properties, in bandages, wound dressings and water purification filters in the third world.

Nausea and vomiting, kidney damage and an increased risk of infection are common side effects of Cisplatin which is used to treat cancer of the lungs, breast, bladder, testicles, head and neck, ovaries and lymph nodes.

Dr Charlotte Willans who is leading the study said: “As many are unfortunately aware, chemotherapy can be a very gruelling experience for the patient. Finding effective, yet non-toxic drugs is an ongoing problem, but these preliminary results are an important step in solving it.”

“Our research has looked at the structure which surrounds a central silver atom. This ‘shrubbery’ is what determines how reactive it is and what it will interact with. Our research has used different types of these ligands to see which is the most effective against cancer cells,” adds Dr Willans.

The research, still the first phase of drug development, involved exposing breast and colon cancer cells with different silver-based chemicals for six day periods. It has been shown that ligands which are co-ordinately bonded to the central silver atom through two sites are more effective than those coordinated through only one site. This may be due to the release of silver being much slower and make these compounds more effective over a longer period of time.

A major barrier to the continued development of these compounds is a lack of understanding of how they work. Over the next 12 months, research will focus on investigating how the compounds damage cancerous cells and what effects they have on healthy cells. This will establish whether these silver complexes are in fact less toxic to ordinary human tissue, and will help to design and develop the next-generation of chemotherapy drugs. This work is been carried out in collaboration with Dr. Roger Phillips at the University of Bradford and is funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research.

Charts are from FML’s AGM Presentation

Angelos Demaskos, manager of the Junior Gold Fund at Sector Investment Managers, says that he fully expects the price of gold to remain at least where it is and that this year the gap that has opened up between bullion and shares of gold companies will start to close. His picks in the fund are Focus Minerals (LON:FML) and Spanish Mountain Gold (TSX-V:SPA)

See earlier FML posts

Another viewpoint of FML and others

Those of us that have been investing in the resource sector for more than a couple of decades are likely to be experiencing a touch of Deja Vous with the news: “Indonesia has revoked a gold mining exploration permit granted to an Australian company (Arc Exploration) after a series of protests against the project (Critics have been concerned the project would have a negative environmental impact) left two people dead last month.” Read article

I wonder which other ASX listed companies are at risk…. I guess holders of IAU are feeling more than a bit edgy with the “forestry” decision still to come.

This image shows the world’s top 10 countries re National Gold Reserves. Note the very low ratio of China’s gold reserve to ForEx reserve.

As most of those interested in gold would know China has a large amount of its reserves in US dollars, the following image goes some way to understanding why China needs to diversify……