Randgold Resources (GOLD) is one of the few senior gold miners I am able to list in NFTRH as a miner of relative quality. It appears along with Royalties, Junior miners and Explorers that are always on my watch list.
I sold it on the last pop to the March high, but found this article at Mineweb to be interesting.
Randgold: Ups reserves, raises dividend, seeks more growth
On 2014 performance, CEO Mark Bristow (pictured) noted that unlike most of its gold mining industry peers, Randgold had not needed to write down its reserves and resources as the gold price dropped because it had calculated its reserves at $1,000 per ounce and its resources at $1,500 per ounce for the past four years. Many other miners, developers and explorers had been building higher prices into their calculations and have since had to backtrack, sometimes resulting in some major write-downs.
Bristow commented, “We have looked closely at all our mines to ensure that they will still be profitable at $1,000 per ounce and we’ll continue to review our operations against a range of gold price scenarios. With the inclusion of Gounkoto underground we are now able to demonstrate a 10 year plan of plus 1 million ounce production per year and all our operations will be profitable at a $1,000/ounce gold price which is unique in the industry.”
I do not make much public commentary (leaving that for the freely available micro managers) about when the sector will be ready for real investment (it’s still a bear market, technically, folks) but I will note that this is one of the companies that will be around and in position to lead when the time is right.
But looking ahead, Bristow notes that there is great potential in the existing low price environment for additional growth opportunities resulting from the squeeze on developers and explorers resulting from this. “Organic growth will remain our core driver but, as we look ahead from this position of strength, we will consider opportunities that are often generated by stressed markets and may well elect to play a part in the likely restructuring of the gold mining industry,” he says.
As he has been able to do in the past, he also points out that the company has solid operations with strong cash flows, a robust balance sheet with no debt and substantial cash, and a share price which for years has consistently outperformed the market. Its five-year forecast shows a growing production profile and a reduction in costs.
Why am I pumping Randgold’s tires here? I don’t even own it. But I always appreciate well run businesses and management that is in line with investors’ goals. That is what I think Mark Bristow is and I just wanted to highlight that.
As to the chart, I lucked into buying it right at the March low and sold it on the pop (one bear market rule is that if you are going to trade long in a bear market, you are sure as hell going to take profits). The chart has a lot of work to do, beginning with the red dotted line, on through the moving averages, turning RSI and MACD green, etc.
But it’s a quality miner among the wreckage.
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