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Board meets on South Deep gold expansion Thursday
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Posted: '27-JUL-05 15:28' GMT Mineweb
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JOHANNESBURG (Mineweb.com) -- The Western Areas and Placer Dome
joint venture (PDWA JV) board is set to meet on Thursday (July 28) to
approve the proposed expansion project at the South Deep gold mine,
says chief executive, Brett Kebble.
“Should this plan be approved by the PDWA JV board, it could lead to an
increase in production to more fully utilise capital invested,” according to
the Western Areas annual report released at the end of June.
Following this development, South Deep is expected to operate at a
monthly mill throughput of 320,000 tonnes of reef and cash costs of
R57,000/kilogram, doubling annual gold production to approximately
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800,000 ounces. The capital expenditure net of revenue attributable to
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Western Areas over the next three years is R500 million.
This would be another step in sorting out the financial difficulties that
currently beset Western Areas. The company’s auditors, KPMG, even
issued an emphasis of matter paragraph in the annual report.
To finance its half of South Deep’s expansion and existing capex,
Western Areas is looking to raise R800 million through a rights offer
which it announced earlier this year.
The circular for the offer will be sent out next Friday says Kebble, while
the actual offer will be complete by the end of August.
At the company’s annual general meeting on Wednesday, Kebble told
shareholders that, while the latest rights issue was not being
underwritten, the company’s large shareholders had given assurances
that they would follow their rights.
“Why pay underwriting costs if most shareholders are going to follow
their rights?” Kebble asked one inquisitive shareholder at the meeting.
Last year, JCI, underwrote a R400-million rights offer, which was
eventually 63% subscribed. As a result of the underwriting, JCI, where
Kebble is chief executive, increased its Western Areas stake to 39.5%.
This time round, “JCI will apply for as many excesses as it possibly can,”
says Kebble. Although JCI’s current cash flow situation is also not so spiffy.
At Wednesday’s AGM, shareholders approved the issue of 36 million new shares.
No price has been given yet, but Western Areas share price has been
slipping of late. On Monday, the shares traded at a 12-month low of
R17.75 each, considerably off the R30.50 per share price of last year’s rights issue.
When the upcoming rights offer was first announced, Western Areas
shares were trading at R23 each.
The hedge
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Kebble told Mineweb on Wednesday that the Western Areas turnaround
will go in the order of “Mine plan, rights issue, hedge.”
In this year’s March quarter, Western Areas received R58,193/kg for its
gold, compared to the quarter’s spot price that averaged more than R83,000/kg.
On top of this, the long-term derivative liability stands at R1.8 billion in the
company’s end-2004 balance sheet.
Negotiations under way with the hedge banks, according to Western
Areas, to restructure the derivative structure so as to reflect the forecast
South Deep production profile more appropriately.
The main banks involved are said to be the AIG Group and Investec.
The annual report says that the gold committed in the derivative structure
equates to only 5% of Western Areas’s attributable reserves and so the
company would like to stretch it out to suit the mine plan better.
Western Areas’s attributable interest in the proven and probable
reserves categories amounts to 27.8 million ounces, with another 37.4
million ounces of resources. According to the annual report, the reserve
alone should support mining activities for more than another 60 years.
Operationally better
Without the hedge, South Deep is said to be doing much better.
The June quarter was said to be 20% higher in terms of production than
the previous quarter while also generating cash flow. The March quarter
produced 1,452 kilograms of gold, which points to gold production of
around 1,727 kilograms for the June quarter.
“We were operationally cash-flow positive for the June quarter, net of the
hedge,” said management at the AGM, “We should continue building up from there.”
Roger Resigning
Brett Kebble's father, Roger Kebble, also withdrew his nomination to be
re-appointed to the board at the last minute.
In a letter to Mafika Mkwanazi, the chairman of Western Areas, Kebble
senior gave two reasons for his departure, one relating to commitments
elsewhere and another at a potential conflict of interest.
“During the last week or two, my time and commitment to Simmer & Jack
has become time consuming and urgent,” said the withdrawal letter, “In
addition to the former, there are areas of potential conflict with Simmer’s
current interest in the Harmony number 4 shaft (Ezulwini).
Roger Kebble is chairman of Simmer & Jack, which recently acquired
and is attempting to turn around the North West gold operations that
DRDGold placed in liquidation earlier this year.
Share bottomed?
Mkwanazi and Brett Kebble both, not surprisingly, said that they felt the
company’s share price had bottomed out at the recent lows.
Kebble said that those who bought in at the R18 a share level would be
rewarded. Mkwanazi said that he himself was looking to enter the
market at these low levels and would one day leave the shares for his children.
But they are not alone, independent analyst, George Lequime at RBC
Capital markets, recently gave Western Areas a rating of “outperform, speculative risk.”
Price-target impediments to the RBC analyst’s 12-month price target
price of R27.50 per Western Areas share include gold price fluctuations,
rand exchange rates, inflation outlook, the production build up and
working cost projections, as well as the company’s ability to raise the
funding required to meet its forecast cash outflows.