Thistle Mining

Von dem Stockhouse-User pendragon

"I lost about 40% on this black sheep. Thank God I cut it lose when I did. Several months ago, someone said that the chart was starting to look like McWatters (which went bankrupt). I thought they were just bashing the stock, but now I am in total agreement. This quarter's gold was sold at an average price of $412 minus $5/ounce due to hedging (I thought that should have been higher) for a realised price of $407/ounce. That sounds pretty good, but unfortunately the production costs were $541 per ounce which means they LOST $129 dollars for every ounce mined. Last quarter the loss was $54 per ounce. In this scenario it would make sense to just leave the gold in the ground until the Rand weakens or gold strengthens, but they are obligated to produce and deliver into the hedge book.

Ferner braucht Thistle anscheinend neues Geld:

Thistle Mining Inc said first quarter production and sale of gold stood at 41,646 ounces compared with 37,983 the year before, and warned that due to lower than anticipated production, it may need to raise additional financial resources to meet working capital requirements.

Insolvenz-Chart?

Scheint so als sammelt jemand heute diese Aktien ein?,wenn man die Umsätze so sieht.
mfg hpoth

Schade das sie Dich verjagt haben,finde Deine Bilder als Auflockerung sehr schön,es ist doch sonst alles so ernst in der Finazwelt, und eben wenn THT - Pleite geht -ist zwar ein Verlust aber man kann sich ja wenigstnes noch an irgend etwas erfreuen.
gruß hpoth

Zitat

Was mag die Frau gesehen haben?

Vieleicht folgenden Artikel:?

Thistle on the brink
By: Stewart Bailey
Posted: '26-MAY-04 15:54' GMT © Mineweb 1997-2004

JOHANNESBURG (Mineweb.com) -- Thistle Mining, the South African gold producer headquartered in Toronto, is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy after a disastrous 15 months at its Free State operations has caused it to default on its debt obligations to Standard Bank.

Thistle’s annual report released last week sketches a grim picture for the gold company, headed by tempestuous Scottish-born mining entrepreneur Willie McLucas. After a year in which two underground fires interrupted production and pushed costs through the roof, even three separate fundraisings may not be enough to keep the wolves from the door.

“In view of the trading results since year-end the company is in breach of certain loan covenants under the Standard Bank facility,” Thistle said. Standard Bank has the right to request payment of the amount drawn from the loan facility, some $5.5 million, at any time. Thistle said the bank had indicated it would not do so. Arthur Painting at Standard Bank’s London office was not available for comment.

McLucas, too, was not available for comment, but John Brown, Thistle’s financial director, confirmed the debt default. He would not offer any further comment and referred Mineweb’s queries to the annual report.

In a note on page 13 of the annual report, McLucas says there is considerable uncertainty among its auditors over the “appropriateness” of presenting the company’s results on a “going concern basis”.

“As a result of the uncertainty and the limitations this placed on the scope of their work, the auditors were unable to form an opinion as to whether the financial statements gave a true and fair view,” Thistle said.

The numbers speak volumes. At the end of the March quarter, Thistle had racked up a net debt position of $12.5 million after recording an $8.8 million loss. The latest operational figures are also instructive – production remains below budget, and it has cash costs of $541/oz, putting it deep in the red. Brown confirmed that plans had been mooted to fire 1,500 workers of the 4,500 employed at the President Steyn mine.

Once again, Brown referred Mineweb back to the annual report, which says: “This plan (to establish a firmer financial footing) which will focus on conserving the cash resources within the group whilst reducing production costs, may involve retrenchments in certain areas of operation in South Africa,” he said. Thistle also plans to raise $3.5 million from the sale of its majority stake in Eurasia.

While Thistle grapples with the task of eking out its survival over the following months, the remainder of the group’s debtors will be having sleepless nights. During 2003 and the beginning of 2004 - while the group was hobbled by a toxic hedge and costs that rose from $341/oz to $541/oz - its management managed to get away no less than two equity issues, one for $7.4 million in January last year and a second for $35 million last January. Thistle also managed to sell a $24 million convertible note, with a coupon of 10 percent, which comes due in 2008.

Those new shareholders and bondholders will be hoping McLucas can pull Thistle back from the brink. One group that may not be as enthusiastic about a revival is Harmony, the South African major that owns most of the land surrounding Thistle’s President Steyn mine.

Harmony hardly needs to add Thistle's loss-making mining operations to its operational base. But, nevertheless, there may be a compelling tax rationale for Harmony to gain control of Thistle's assets. Under South African tax regulations multiple mining operations can be covered by a single tax umbrella, provided they border one another. That becomes attractive once profitable operations are grouped together with loss making mines, resulting in a lower tax bill.

One thing for Harmony to consider, though, is that the South African taxman is paying special attention to the gold mining industry’s tax affairs. Any ring-fencing arrangement is sure to attract close scrutiny from the receiver. Harmony will no doubt be keen to pay the taxman as little as possible on earnings from its operations, which are also suffering under the strong rand. But its management - notoriously careful with its cash at the best of times - is unlikely to pay up for the privilege, particularly while Thistle struggles to survive.