Quick update: RMS has continued its stellar performance and has upped their year on year profit by 300%.

The Directors of Ramelius Resources Limited (ASX: “RMS”) are pleased to advise that the Company’s profit for the full year to 30 June 2011 is expected to be substantially higher than the previous corresponding period.

Unaudited consolidated total Profit before Income Tax for the year ended 30 June 2011 is expected to be approximately $90m, compared to a consolidated total Profit before Income Tax of $28.7m reported for the previous financial year.

The expected pre‐tax profit is based on gross gold sales revenue of $147.6m arising from gold production in excess of 100,000 ounces milled during the year from the Company’s 100% owned Wattle Dam underground gold mine located in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia.The increase in profitability was driven by increased production from Wattle Dam and improved A$ gold prices.

Ramelius Managing Director, Ian Gordon, said, “this exceptional result is a reflection of the quality of the Wattle Dam orebody which has not only delivered excellent grades but is also likely to be mined well into the future as we continue to delineate extensions to the resource at depth”.

Ramelius advises that the above profit guidance for the year to 30 June 2011 is only approximate, based on internal draft management accounts and is subject to completion of the 2010‐11 financial report and audit.

Nice to see one of our most respected broking/research houses putting a buy onto AQG. WilsonHTM seem to be impressed with the cash cost of US$542 per oz.

Personally I’m impressed with the growth in resources and the further upside. It isn’t far fetched to think AQG will be in our top 4 gold producers before long. (Displacing RSG and EAU) – time will tell.

Alacer Gold Announces Second Quarter Operating Results

Alacer continues its upwards momentum and is rapidly becoming a major gold producer with a pleasing production cost. Being under a year old Alacer isn’t yet on Australian investors radars and few brokers seem to be knowledgeable about its current position and prospects.

“Alacer Gold Corp. was formed following the successful merger of Anatolia Minerals Development, a TSX listed company and Avoca Resources Limited, Australia’s third largest ASX listed gold producer. The merger was completed on February 18, 2011.”

Today’s announcement substantially upgrades the previous estimates of : “Through the merger, Alacer Gold has emerged as a leading global intermediate gold producer and explorer with a globally diversified asset portfolio in Australia and Turkey. Alacer Gold is forecasting gold production of 600,000 ounces of gold in CY2013, with an expected increase to 800,000 ounces in CY2015 and current gold reserves of 3.5 million ounces and gold resources approaching 15 million ounces.”

I hold Alacer.

Today’s (25th July 2011) ASX announcement presents some rather startling results and shows the discovery of a new type of Gold deposit for Australia: A Tellurium – Gold mix. The gold grades are in the “bonanza” zone and the tellerium grades are very high at up to 3,500ppm. (The crustal abundance of tellurium is 1/500th of the rarest of the REEs).

“The US now only owes the equivalent of 340,000 tonnes of gold – still more than the total sum of gold ever mined (twice as much, in fact, according to best estimates) and way above the 8,113.5 tonnes the United States Treasury says it holds between Fort Knox and the New York Fed.”

Ramelius Resources has wrapped up the financial year with production of more than 100,000 ounces from its Wattle Dam gold mine, one of the country’s lowest-cost precious metals operations, and flagged the imminent start of operations at its Mt Magnet project. http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/business/a/-/wa/9798784/ramelius-confounds-sceptics-with-strong-production/

See multiple posts about RMS by Sparty

At the moment we seem to be seeing gold doing a bit of a shuffle… but all will be good for gold as we go past this year says Newmont chief.
Australia looks likely to benefit from the higher gold prices on the back of a substantial recovery in production this year…. Thankfully P Costello won’t be in a position to bugger the industry again and Gordon brown is now little more than a joke so England won’t be selling their bullion at bargain. Our AUD might make things more interesting however and it is, for me at least, difficult to work out how a markedly stronger Australian dollar will affect individual compnaies and also the Gold ETFs.

Wealthy Chinese to fire up world gold price, says Richard O’Brien
Th World gold price has yet to peak and the steady emergence of a wealthy Chinese middle class will help underpin a move toward $US2000 per ounce over the next five years, said Richard O’Brien, chief executive officer of Newmont Mining yesterday.

Mr O’Brien said global gold demand and supply conditions are set to ensure the gold price remains robust over time, with entrenched weakness in the US dollar set to persist as Congress shows no sign of reining in the country’s budgetary woes.

“I’ve got to believe that the US dollar goes lower over time,” he said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on East Asia.

“I’m a firm believer that the gold price has not reached its peak, but it will remain volatile,” he added.

“Five years from now, $US2000 gold will probably be in reach,” Mr O’Brien said.

Next year, gold will trade in a narrow range of $US1500 to $US1600 per ounce, with the market focused on concerns about China’s ability to sustain its expansion, and the potential for a double-dip recession in the US economy, he added.

“That could be negative for gold,” but markets need to understand that whatever happens, the gold price will remain above $US1000 per ounce for the foreseeable future, he said.

“People need to get with the program,” he added.

Demand-side dynamics are set to remain strong while global gold supply tapers off in coming years as projects become more expensive to develop and government approvals are harder to get. Some central banks are also starting to buy gold again, he said.

Demand from both China and India for gold as both jewellery and as an investment is set to be strong, he said.

This story reinforces the perception of African sovereign risks. These sorts of issues have been very much on the minds of uranium investors that have a stake in companies with Namibian deposits….

Today’s Reuters article below shows that “Out of Africa” could be more than just a catchy film title… Where to go after Africa is for some investors reminiscent of the film Exodus. Personally I have returned nearly all of my holdings back to Australia… sure I might miss a lot of upside but I mighyt also miss the spears… unless I’m in NSW or WA coal seam gas or uranium almost anywhere in Australia after July….

(Reuters) – South Africa’s big three gold miners are upping their global presence as grades at home dwindle and regulatory uncertainty, nationalization talk and labor unrest raise domestic political risks.

The country also has the world’s deepest mines, making operations there increasingly costly and dangerous.

But the scramble out of South Africa is hardly risk free.

Following are some facts about their growing operations outside the country and some of the political risks they face.

GOLD FIELDS

Gold Fields, the world’s fourth-largest gold miner, is searching for El Dorado in Latin America.

It has invested heavily in Peru where production at its Cerro Corona mine is seen falling to between 330,000 and 360,000 ounces of gold equivalent in 2011, from 406,000 ounces in 2010.

Gold Fields is also exploring options in neighboring countries while moving ahead with Chucapaca, its $750 million Peruvian venture with Buenaventura. Its resources surpass 5.6 million ounces of gold equivalent and the target is to start production in 2015.

But the political risks in Peru are high.

Gold Fields has temporarily suspended its project in Hualgayoc, another joint venture with Buenaventura, due to social unrest in the area.

Sunday’s presidential run-off election in Peru pits a left-wing nationalist against a far rightest and both favor raising taxes on miners to fund social programs.

HARMONY

Harmony Gold, the world’s fifth-largest gold producer, is betting on its Papua New Guinea operations.

Its Wafi-Golpu project, which it shares with Australia’s Newcrest Mining Ltd, is seen as especially exciting though its estimates on production and costs remain very preliminary and wide.

It may yield 300,000 to 700,000 ounces of gold a year or 200,000 to 320,000 metric tones of copper. The costs have been pegged at $3 billion, but Harmony has said it could be closer to $4 billion of which it would be responsible for half. Papua New Guinea hardly offers a lower political risk environment than South Africa.

In Transparency International’s 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index, it ranks 154th out of 178 countries surveyed, tied with the likes of Russia and Kenya and below Libya and Iran.

Papua New Guinea is also high on the radar screens of global conservation groups and campaigners as it is seen as a “Lost World” of unique wildlife and biodiversity. So mining operations there are increasingly coming under environmental scrutiny.

ANGLOGOLD ASHANTI

Africa’s largest gold producer AngloGold Ashanti is boldly going where none of its peers had gone before.

It has operations in 11 countries and as of August, 2010, its non-South African operations accounted for 60 percent of its global output.

It is also exploring in some political hot spots, notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Eritrea.

AngloGold has significant operations in Mali, which is dealing with an Islamist insurgency and is becoming a magnet for drug trafficking.

But many of its operations are in politically stable countries such as Ghana, Namibia and the United States.

As described by the ABC News story below the decline was due to weather with the heavy rains impacting production and NOT due to a reprise of the Costello Curse.

Quarterly gold production falls
Australia’s gold production fell 7 per cent last quarter but is up about 6 per cent on the same time last year.

The Gold Production Report from Surbiton Associates reveals production for the three months to March 31, reached 65 tonnes, down five tonnes from the previous quarter.

The drop was largely due to cyclonic rains, stifling operations in both WA and the eastern states.

The managing director of the industry consultant group, Dr Sandra Close, says Kalgoorlie’s Super Pit was the largest producer for the quarter.

“It regained the top position again with 200,000 ounces, followed by Boddington at 166,000 ounces and Telfer was the third largest producer,” she said.

I hold several of the above. See discussion.