Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
The London-quoted equity of Ariana Resources (AIM: AAU) gained more than 10% on Thursday after it announced an exploration alliance with the world’s biggest gold producer, Newmont Corp (NYSE: NEM; TSX: NGT).
The alliance will focus on copper and gold exploration in south-eastern Europe via Ariana’s 75%-owned Western Tethyan Resources (WTR) subsidiary, focusing on prospective regions within Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia.
The Tethyan Metallogenic Belt is one of the world’s foremost metal-producing regions. It is also one of the longest and most extensive, going through 33 countries, with six significant sub-regions differentiated along the belt.
The western side of the belt is the richest and is known for two main periods of gold and copper-rich magmatism, which occurred during the Cretaceous and Cenozoic eras. The Cretaceous aged deposits are dominantly copper-gold porphyry, high-sulphidation epithermal and volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits, whereas, in the Cenozoic magmatic belt, copper is significant in porphyry systems only.
Under the exploration alliance agreement, Newmont will invest $2.5 million in Ariana, based on the 10% premium to the 30-day volume-weighted average price to fund the alliance’s activities. Newmont will also open its regional database to Ariana.
