Integra (ASX:IGR) is an Australian gold explorer looking at becoming a significant new mid-tier Australian gold production house.

IGR has built up its portfolio through a series of acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic alliances – predominantly in the Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia.

It is looking to commission its flagship, the Randalls Gold Project. In January, IGR announced a 40% increase in resources.

The miner has an attractive asset portfolio with low cost gold production, approximately $500 per ounce cash cost.

It has enjoyed a successful transition to a gold producer aiming to produce 140,000 ounces (oz).

IGR has a good track record of discovery and development with significant exploration potential.

The miner recently reported shallow high grade gold results at the Lucky Bay prospect.

Business investment

Integra is looking to spend $12 million upgrading its processing facility. It will also be looking to repay $20 million worth of debt.

By the end of FY12, the company will be nearly debt free.

The Randalls Gold project will be producing 90,000oz per year at $500 per ounce.

The process plant expansion is expected to be completed by August. The target production is 100,000oz per annum.

There are also plans to increase production to 120,000-140,000oz per year underpinned by underground production potential.

Looking ahead

IGR has a very strong business primed for long term growth. The recent positive results at Lucky Bay are testament to IGR’s strength and potential.

Gold has gained significantly this year, reaching fresh record highs as global economic uncertainty, natural disasters and tension in North Africa and the Middle East pushes investors towards the safety of the shiny metal.

The metal tacked on 4% last week and continues to hold its ground well above US$1500.

With plenty in the reserve growth pipeline and rising gold prices, we feel IGR will be one of the stocks to watch in coming months.

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Keynote Speaker:

Tommy D McKeith

Executive Vice President, Head of Exploration & Business Development Gold Fields, South Africa

BSc Hons (Geology) GDE (Mining), & MBA

Gold, Beyond $2,000: Why gold’s bull run is set to continue

Gold prices continue to soar!

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Australian Stock Report is offering you the chance to come and learn from this leading industry expert why he feels that the golden bull run is set to continue. Tommy will set forth the fundamentals underpinning an ongoing investment in gold, and share with you his expected timeframe for when it may well breach the psychological $2,000 barrier (and what lies beyond $2,000!).

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Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS) is a Western Australian-focused unhedged gold producer with mining operations at Wattle Dam near Kambalda and milling facilities at Burbanks near Coolgardie.

Wattle Dam is the group’s cash cow, producing solid amounts of high grade gold at a low cost.

With Wattle’s mine life potentially coming to an end, RMS also has its lucrative Mt Magnet project, which will come into production this year.

RMS is benefitting from its strong operations and boom times for gold. The group is a low-cost operator with no debt and in a strong financial position with $90 million in cash on hand.

Golden production

RMS produced just over 100,000 ounces (oz) of gold from its Wattle Dam gold mine for the full year.

On the back of a solid June quarter, total gold production for the mine was over 200,000 oz, including production from the former open pit of 51,000 oz.

The Mt Magnet project north east of Perth is proceeding with the planned schedule for gold production to begin in January 2012.

RMS currently has $100 million in cash and gold on hand.

The stock will also benefit from a surging gold price.

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Regis Resources Limited (ASX:RRL) is an emerging Australian gold production and exploration company.

Its management team has a successful track record of developing mid sized gold operations within Australia and Africa.

RRL’s flagship is the 100% owned Duketon Gold Project, 130km north of Laverton in WA.

Operations commenced in August 2010 following the construction of the Moolart Well Gold Mine and the mine boasts a JORC reserve of 603,000 ounces (oz).

Average production is expected to be 90,000oz over a six year mine life.

Regis Resources is confident that Moolart Well offers further reserve and resource growth potential from continued exploration programmes.

RRL also has the Garden Well project which is located 30km south of Moolart.

A maiden ore reserve at the Garden Well deposit highlights the potential of the region.

Returning to profit

The commencement of operations at the Moolart Well Gold Mine saw RRL report a profit after tax of $13.52 million for the half year ended 31 December.

This equates to an earnings per share of 3.23 cents.

The result was a huge improvement from a loss of $17 million the previous year.

Gold sales for the period came in at $42.481 million. This was from the sale of 24,207 oz at an average delivery price of $1,408 per oz.

RRL has cash and gold bullion holdings of $21.5 million.

Gold production for its first full quarter of operation (up to December 2010) was 23,851 oz. A pre-royalty cash cost of $450 per oz was achieved.

Resource update

RRL recently announced a reserve increase at Garden Well to 1.66 million ounces (moz) contained gold.

Even more impressive is the fact that 90% of the reserve at Garden Well is within 200 metres of surface and 99% of the reserve is within 250 metres of the surface.

This update increases RRL’s total JORC compliant reserves to 2.5 moz of gold.

RRL believes the updated 2.14 moz resource at Garden Well confirms the likelihood of further reserve upgrades at the project.

The miner expects Garden Well to produce approximately 180,000oz of gold per annum.

Successful development of the Garden Well deposit should lift RRL’s gold production to around 270,000 oz per annum commencing FY13.

Should it achieve that production rate, RRL would be a well established mid tier gold miner.

Gold boom and outlook

RRL is moving towards commencement of a second stand alone mining operation at Garden Well in the September 2011 quarter.

Gold has gained significantly this year, reaching fresh record highs last month as global economic uncertainty, natural disasters and tension in North Africa and the Middle East pushes investors towards the safety of the shiny metal.

The metal printed highs of around US$1577 last month and continues to hold its ground well above US$1500.

With plenty in the reserve growth pipeline and rising gold prices, we feel RRL has plenty of upside potential.

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Resolute Mining (RSG) is a gold mining and exploration company, operating primarily in Africa and Australia.

The group’s portfolio focus is on Africa, but the miner also has projects in Australia, Mali and Tanzania.

RSG has three operating mines: Golden Pride in Tanzania, Ravenswood in Queensland, and the newly re-developed Syama in Mali, which was once a BHP Billiton operation.

RSG’s operations are well-placed, and exploration is likely to lead to further resource discoveries, underground, and in nearby pits.

The company continues to benefit from a boom in gold prices.

Golden update

RSG this week provided its Group gold production and cash cost guidance for FY12.

Gold production in the coming year is forecast to increase to 410,000 ounces at a cash cost of $730 per ounce.

This cements RSG’s position as the second largest primary listed gold producer on the ASX.

It also represents a substantial increase in production and reduction in cash costs.

RSG’s continued improvement in outlook is underpinned by ongoing progress being achieved at the Syama operation in Mali.

Resolute mining shares surged 7.6% on the back of the news.

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Newcrest Mining (ASX:NCM) is Australia’s largest gold producer, with mining and exploration projects in Australia, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Indonesia and the US. The miner also has a smaller exposure to copper, mostly as a by-product of its gold production.

Importantly, NCM is working on bringing a few massive projects on stream. It already has six operating mines and five significant development projects.

NCM achieved its first gold production at its Hidden Valley gold mine in PNG, and delivered initial production ore at Ridgeway Deeps, a resource below its Ridgeway mine in central New South Wales.

In contrast to most miners, NCM mostly focuses on exploration-led production increases rather than acquisitions.

However, NCM reversed this trend when it decided to takeover Lihir Gold (LGL).

Newcrest Mining this week downgraded its production guidance for FY11 as a result of a production interruption at its Lihir mine and minor production delays at other sites.

Australia’s biggest gold miner is now expecting to produce 2.7 million ounces of gold this year, down approximately 3.5% from its previous guidance of 2.75 – 2.85 million ounces.

NCM should continue to receive support from surging gold prices.

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Ramelius Resources (RMS) is a Western Australian-focused unhedged gold producer with mining operations at Wattle Dam near Kambalda and milling facilities at Burbanks near Coolgardie.

Wattle Dam is the group’s cash cow, producing solid amounts of high grade gold at a low cost.

With Wattle’s mine life potentially coming to an end, RMS also has its lucrative Mt Magnet project, which will come into production this year.

RMS is benefitting from its strong operations and boom times for gold, making it one of the hot stocks over the past year.

The group is a low-cost operator with no debt and in a strong financial position with $90 million in cash on hand.

Golden Wattle

The company’s primary project is the Wattle Dam gold mine, which has produced in excess of 150,000 ounces of gold since 2006.

It is the highest grade gold mine in Australia and has a low cost of production of less than $500 per ounce of gold.

It is currently being mined as an underground operation. However, the mine’s life span is coming to an end, so RMS is drilling to extend the mine life.

In a recent update, Ramelius Resources noted it has extended its mine life to 2013.

Fortunately, recent drilling confirms mine life upside, with a new high grade zone discovered at depth (as at February 2011).

Wattle boasted production of 91,700 oz in 2010 at a total cash cost of $458 per ounce.

It clocked record production of 26,668 oz in the recent December quarter and mine cash flow of $25.6 million.

Wattle anticipates production of 90,000 oz in 2010/11.

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Magnetic money-maker

Last July, RMS purchased the Mt Magnet gold project, located 600km north east of Perth.

The group intends to bring this project into production in 2011, which will handily replace Wattle Dam if the mine’s life is not extended.

Mt Magnet looks to be a lucrative cash cow for RMS. A recent drilling program has identified a number of high grade gold targets for follow-up in 2011.

The project boasts historic production of 5.6M oz of gold, JORC resources of 3.3M oz and reserves of 474,000 oz.

Mt Magnet boasts potential production of 100,000 oz per annum (p.a.) for 5-7 years and a further 200K oz of gold is available in other pits.

RMS has more than enough cash in the bank to push ahead with Mt Magnet owing to its Wattle Dam production sales.

RMS is targeting an all-up cost of $800 per ounce. There is also potential to lift production to 150K oz p.a. by adding underground ore.

The mine currently has an operating margin of around $1000 per ounce.

Strong financials and sector

For the half ending December 2010, RMS recorded a net profit of $32 million and announced capital return and a dividend totalling 7 cents per share.

RMS is in a strong financial position with $86 million in cash and gold on hand with no debt.

The group has a market capitalisation of $294 million and clocked a net profit of $20 million for FY10.

For the year, total cash costs of $458 per ounce were produced and the group saw production of 91,700oz of gold in 2010.

Gold has generally hovered around US$1,360 an ounce lately, with the precious metal seeing a bull market over the last decade, and repeatedly hitting historical new highs.

Gold prices rose at an average of 18% a year over the last decade and companies such as RMS are benefitting from the boom.  Indeed, the likely continuation of the boom means RMS is currently one of the stocks to watch.

Outlook

The Wattle Dam mine is the highest grade gold mine in Australia, is low-cost and has produced a lot of gold and cash for RMS, which is a debt-free company.

If Wattle Dam’s mine life is not extended, RMS has its Mt Magnet prospect on hand for production this year.

RMS is targeting gold production of 230,000 oz by 2013/14.

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St Barbara (SBM) is an Australian gold producer and explorer.

SBM’s primary assets are its Southern Cross and Leonora operations, both of which are located in Western Australia. The company also purchased the Gwalia (WA) mine in 2005, which has become a main focus.

On 13 May, SBM made a takeover offer for Catalpa Resources (CAH).

The part scrip/part cash offer valued CAH at $349 million ($1.92 per share), representing a 41% premium to CAH’s closing price on 10 May.

CAH advised its shareholders to take no action but did signal that it believed St Barbara was opportunistically trying to take advantage of its weak share price.

Nevertheless, CAH advised that it will hold further talks with SBM in the coming weeks.

CAH was one of the market’s hot stocks on the day, surging more than 20%.

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Newcrest Mining (ASX:NCM) is Australia’s largest gold producer, with mining and exploration projects in Australia, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Indonesia and the US. The miner also has a smaller exposure to copper, mostly as a by-product of its gold production.

The company is also considered among the market’s blue chip stocks by virtue of its size and performance.  Furthermore, due to its leverage to rising gold prices, NCM has been one of the hot stocks over the past month.

NCM reported its latest quarterly production numbers yesterday.  The results showed a 16% decline in gold output from the previous quarter.

Gold output was hit by wet weather events in eastern Australia, low rainfall which hurt production at Lihir, and civil unrest in the Ivory Coast leading to the suspension of operations at Bonriko.

As a result, NCM said cash costs for the quarter rose from $440 to $497 per ounce.  Newcrest Mining also downgraded full year gold production guidance to 2.82 million ounces (plus or minus 35,000 ounces).

This compares to previous guidance of between 2.85 million and 2.95 million ounces.

Copper production guidance was left unchanged at 75,000 – 80,000 tonnes, with cash cost guidance also remaining the same.

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Medusa Mining (MML) is an Australian-based gold and copper miner, focused solely on operating in the Philippines.

MML’s assets include the high grade, underground, narrow vein Co-O Gold Mine and the Lingig copper prospect.

The miner has a 5-year, 2-phase growth path to production of 400,000 ounces per year underpinned by strong cash flow from the Co-O Mine.

With total current resources of over 2 million ounces (oz) of gold, Medusa Mining is in prime position to become a prominent gold producer.

The group is impressively debt-free and un-hedged, with long-term cash costs slated for around US$200 per ounce but currently sitting comfortably below this level.

The company is also looking robust at present on an encouraging environment for gold, which has continued to linger around all-time highs.

Key upside drivers

MML’s board recently approved construction of a new Co-O plant with capacity to produce 200,000 oz per year.

Surface drilling results from the Co-O have already yielded an exceptionally wide and high grade zone.

Elsewhere in MML’s large tenement holding, work is progressing on a number of prospects, including the Bananghilig deposit.

A pipeline of deposits is now being established within the Bananghilig Deposit (650,000 ounces at 1.3 g/t gold), and planning is now underway to commence a pre-feasibility study drilling campaign in July this year.

MML’s projects have excellent exploration upside, with high grade vein and disseminated bulk gold targets, plus six porphyry copper targets.

Its current exploration budget for FY11 is US$21 million.

Revised production for FY11 of 102,000 oz at cash costs of US$190 per oz would see MML become an extremely profitable miner.

Gold price rally

We expect gold and silver prices to remain strong, as many investors seek to hedge the market with precious metals such as silver and gold.

Gold is currently at record highs with the trend likely to continue in the short to medium term.  In fact, MML has been one of the hot stocks since August last year on surging bullion prices.

Key upside drivers for the gold price include inflation fears and US dollar weakness.

Gold is now well above US$1450 and looks poised for further gains.

First half joy

MML recently reported a record first half profit.

EBITDA was up 101% to $63.3 million (from $31.5 million) on year. EPS nearly doubled to $0.31 based on a NPAT of US$58.1 million.

Revenues increased 90% to a record US$78.3 million, due to increased gold production and a higher price received on sale of gold.

Following the solid result, MML paid a maiden un-franked dividend of 5 cents on 8 November.

The unhedged gold miner achieved an average gold price of US$1,291 per oz.

Cash costs were marginally lower at US$186 per oz than the previous corresponding period’s costs of US$189 per oz.

This is considerably lower than Australian based miners like NCM and OZL which have cash costs $400+ per oz.

Looking ahead

The Philippines presents a reasonably safe mining environment with plenty of government support.

The region has an excellent mineralized structural framework with world class gold-copper deposits.

There has been an abundance of discoveries in the area.

MML has huge potential for long mine life at the Co-O Mine with a conceptual exploration target size of 3 to 7 million oz.

The miner has a good history of production upgrades which presents significant upside, so it will be one of the stocks to watch in coming months.

In a sign of balance sheet health, MML advised that it is debt free. With money in the bank and solid cash generation, the company can afford to ramp up production organically, or perhaps through an acquisition.

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