Artemis Gold’s Blackwater mine at final commissioning stage
Artemis now expects to feed first ore to the ball mill in the next few weeks and continues to target first gold pour before year end.
Gold miners confront costs which are ‘increasing exponentially’ according to Silver Doctors, with some predicting that gold prices will need to rise to $3,000 within five years in order for companies to stay profitable.
Aram Shishmanian of the World Gold Council is quoted by Silver Doctors as saying in May of this year that miners currently need gold prices to be at $1,300 in order to stay afloat, as well as predicting that prices will need to rise to $3,000 in the next five years for companies to continue to survive.
Silver Doctors imputes the dire situation faced by gold miner to costs which are ‘increasing exponentially’, citing a detailed presentation given by Goldfields CEO Nick Holland in Australia several months ago.
From 2006-2011, the top gold miners spent 40% or $54 billion of their market cap (average of $137 billion). If all the projects that are slated to come online between 2012-2017, the top gold miners will have to spend $85 billion or 60% of their present market cap. This goes to show that increased costs of mining and investment are really devouring the profits of the gold miners.
The precious metal pundits also pillory leading gold companies for arrogance and dishonesty:
Top gold miners have not been honest with the real costs to mine gold. Instead they have been bragging about their huge profit margins per their cash costs. This has motivated governments in foreign countries to increase or tack on higher royalties and taxes.
