Rinehart’s Hancock weighs $3.3 billion iron ore mine project
Hancock acquired a 51% interest in the Mt Bevan project from Legacy Iron Ore Ltd. and Hawthorn Resources.
Newcrest Mining’s share price fell 5% yesterday, reaching an 8-year low and bringing total stock damage to $20 billion over the past two years, the Australian reported Thursday.
As a result of yesterday’s drop, Newcrest is no longer Australia’s third largest miner behind giants Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton.
Production downgrades, operational problems and the shift of investors out of gold companies and into physical bullion were cited as the key reasons for Newcrest’s struggles.
The catalyst for the sell-off was a downgrade of the company by UBS, which “slashed its target price from $18 to $12 and wiped $275 million from its 2013-14 earnings forecast, which is now $596m.”
Newcrest Mining is one of the world’s top five gold mining companies by reserves and market capitalisation. The company is engaged in gold and copper exploration, development and mining and has a global workforce of over 19,000. Although much of the Company’s interests are located in Australia, they have interests in properties worldwide.
Sources: Newcrest Mining; InfoMine; The Australian
