TOLUCA, Mexico – A major gold producer wants a piece of West Africa.
Kinross Gold (NYSE: KGC, Stock Forum) will spend $600 million for almost 10 percent of Ghana and Mauritania’s Red Back Mining (TSX: T.RBI, Stock Forum).
The Kinrossplacement into Red Back’s Canada-traded shares pegs Red Back’s proven and probable gold in the West Africa ground at approximately $830 an ounce. Red Back is a doyenne of mid-sized West Africa miners. It now has a $6 billion-plus stock-market worth after the Kinross investment clears.
In Ghana last week, I spent time with several prospectors who praised Red Back’s two mines: Tasiast Gold Mine in Mauritania and Chirano Gold Mine in Ghana. “The success of Red Back in part is why a company like ours has done well in terms of valuation,” said Perseus Mining (TSX: T.PRU, Stock Forum) exploration chief Kevin Thomson. “Maybe they’ll (Kinross) come after us next.”
Perseus this week raised $90 million Canadian as the Australia-based company hurtles toward gold production at its Ghana mine. Mr. Thomson’s nurtured Ayanfuri Mine is within 15 months of producing 200,000 ounces of gold a year. (Please see:Perseus Heights coveragefrom Ghana.)
Another Ghana company, our Ticker Trax™ Planetary Prospect Xtra-Gold Resources (OTC:BB: XTGR, Stock Forum), is preparing a 5,000-meter drill program, its next phase of drilling, on a concession at the 5.5-kilometer-long Kibi Gold Trend. (We at Ticker Trax are on record as having visited the Kibi twice in eight months as we research U.S. over-the-counter-listed Xtra-Gold. Please see: Structural geologist seeks large gold zone at Xtra’s Kibi.)
The Red Back-Kinross alliance shows there is “an aggressive major producer interested in the region,” Xtra-Gold CEO James Longshore told me today from Ghana. (I am today, Wednesday, on my way to EL Oro, near Toluca, Mexico.)
Xtra-Gold’s team hopes to extend what were good to very good (9.2 grams gold per tonne over 39 meters) granitoid-hosted gold intercepts in 68 holes of drilling at the company’s Apapam concession. (Please see photo of Mr. Longshore, with sunglasses, and a company geologist and excavator operator as they prepare for July 2010 phase of drilling. All photos by Thom Calandra.)
“We thinkXtra-Gold has the only potential new big discovery in Ghana,” Mr. Longshore says. “In the long run, if we prove it up there will be lots of interested buyers.” (Please visit ourTicker Trax Libraryfor subscriber research regarding Ghana, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and South Africa. As with all Ticker TraxPlanetary Prospects, we here at home own shares of Xtra-Gold Resources.)
More of our Ticker Trax world:
- From President Abraham Drost of Sandspring Resources (TSX: V.SSP, Stock Forum) in British Guyana. We toured gold-copper project (a few diamonds there, too) Toroparu in autumn 2009. The stock at $1.30 Canadian is getting into a neighborhood that looks cheap enough to purchase after a spectacular November 209 IPO. “We are drilling up a storm. There will be a news update coming soon. We are focused on restating the resource sooner than later,” Mr. Drost tells me. The Sandspring team of Abe Drost, founder John Adams of Colorado and others have invested 10-plus years into developing the Guyana property. Toroparu is in the thick of the jungle some 150 kilometers from Venezuela’s gold-laden Kilometer 88.
- We are off to see Candente Gold’s (TSX: T.CDG, Stock Forum) El Oro gold and silver project in Mexico on Wednesday and Thursday. Joanne Freeze’s Candente Gold was the subject of an early April 2010 Ticker Trax report about its Peru concessions. Wednesday (today) is an Independence Day (Cinco de Mayo) holiday in Mexico. Candente Gold is a Planetary Prospect and we here at home own shares in the company and its sister company, Candente Copper.)
I will be chatting at the Las Vegas Money show on Tuesday May 11. The subject is natural resources, life sciences and safety in commodities. The 30-minute presentation is at noon. After that, I return to Colombia on behalf of afresh Ticker Trax Planetary Prospect whose activities I will be viewing for a second time.
Ticker Trax™
Please see Stockhouse for a selection of our Ticker Trax research and our password-protected library for subscribers. Thom Calandra owns shares of each of the 13 Planetary Prospects in Ticker Trax. Please see our Ticker Traxpassword-protected library for coverage of copper in Peru, gold in Peru, gold and copper in Colombia, gold in Ghana and silver and gold in Mexico. Thom and family own about 125,000 shares of Xtra-Gold, all purchased in the open market.
(All photos by Thom Calandra. Thom and his family own shares of each of the 13 Planetary Prospects. Thom’s personal holdings are available for all to see on Stockhouse, the Canada publishing company. Subscribers are informed well in advance of any shift in research regarding Planetary Prospects and any purchase or sales decisions. Subscribers always come first.)
Ticker Trax™Please see tickertrax.com to learn more about this wealth service and its Planetary Prospects. For an index of free Thom Calandra articles, please click here. For an entire explanation of our strategies, research methods and disclosure procedures regarding all aspects of Ticker Trax and our Stockhouse reports, please visit our readily available Stockhouse articles. Please see this one in particular: Core Box Revealed. For the password-protected Ticker Traxlibrary, please see: www.tickertrax.com/Login.aspx.
HOLDINGS: Thom’s holdings are listed for Stockhouse members at www.Stockhouse.com under the “portfolio setting” for user TCALANDRA. It is public and free to view. He and his family own recently minted gold and silver coins and shares of about 30 public and two private companies. As with each of the Planetary Prospects, Thom Calandra owns Colombian Mines, Xtra-Gold Resources, Endeavour Silver, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Bellhaven Copper & Gold and the other Planetary Prospects researched in Ticker Trax reports.
THOM CALANDRA of Ticker Trax helps his audience find value in a quagmire of investment choices. Thom co-founded CBS MarketWatch and MarketWatch.com. As the voice of Thom Calandra's StockWatch and The Calandra Report, Thom pegged $300-ounce gold as a long-term hold in 1999 and in 2000. He has been covering life-sciences and natural resources since 1988.
Thom Calandra and Stockhouse produce this and other free reports. Please visit www.Stockhouse.com.
Ticker Trax™ is published by Stockhouse Publishing Ltd. Ticker Trax is an information service for subscribers and neither Stockhouse nor Thom Calandra is a broker or an investment advisor. None of the information contained therein constitutes a recommendation by Mr. Calandra or Stockhouse that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. Ticker Trax does not purport to tell or suggest the investment securities subscribers or readers should buy or sell for themselves. Subscribers and readers of Ticker Trax should conduct their own research and due diligence and obtain professional advice before making any investment decisions. Ticker Trax will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a reader’s reliance on information obtained in the reports. Subscribers and readers are solely responsible for their own investment decisions. Opinions expressed in Ticker Trax are based on sources believed to be reliable and are written in good faith, but no representation or warranty, expressed or implied, is made as to their accuracy or completeness. All information contained in Ticker Trax should be independently verified. The editor and publisher are not responsible for errors or omissions or responsible for keeping information up to date or for correcting any past information. Ticker Trax does not receive compensation of any kind from any companies that may be mentioned in the report. Any opinions expressed are subject to change without notice. Owners, employees and writers may hold positions in the securities that are discussed in Ticker Trax. PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL THOM SEEKING PERSONALIZED INVESTMENT ADVICE, WHICH HE CANNOT PROVIDE. Copyright 2010 all rights reserved.