"Primero achieved its strongest quarter to date. San Dimas delivered record gold and silver production, record profit margins and record operating cash flow for Primero."
A study of Quebec's royalty rates for miners, which was hurried out before the provincial election, warned the government not to dip its hand any deeper into resource company pockets.
Nautilus Minerals dropped 7.3% to $1.02 in late-afternoon trade on Wednesday, after the Toronto-based firm announced that it is raising $34 million from its major shareholders at 90c a share to build its seabed mining system.
The stock hit a high of $50 in May 2008 and came close again in April 2011, but at $170 billion, the Melbourne-based company is now valued at some $80 billion less that at its peak.
The company is sticking to plans to spend $680 million this year including ramping up production at its Noche Buena mine. The firm has five operating mines and this year forecasts 41 million ounces of silver produced and 460,000 ounces of gold.
Barrick announced last week a 50-60% cost blow-out for the copper-gold-silver project straddling the Chile–Argentina border which could end up with a final bill of as much as $8 billion with $3 billion already spent.
Natural Resources Holdings produced a terrific report—which lists the world's top 50 producing mine and undeveloped deposits—that warns there is a paucity of exploitable gold in the coming years.
