An excavator loads coal at Macarthur Coal's Moorvale mine located about 750km northwest of Brisbane in this undated file handout photograph. Peabody Energy and Arcelor Mittal have offered to buy Australian coal miner Macarthur Coal valuing the firm at A$4.7 billion ($5.05 billion) or at a 40 percent premium to July 11, 2011 Monday's close.HO/Reuters
Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp. jumped close to 10 per cent early Tuesday after reporting profit of $22.9-million in the second-quarter of 2011 compared with $4.5-million in the second-quarter of 2010. It said the profit recorded for the three months ended June 30, 2011 was the result of a $36.6-million gain in the fair value of warrants recorded as derivative liabilities. "As we move forward fully capitalized we aim to achieve our targeted production run rate of 150,000 ounces by the end of 2011 and return to the path of profitability in 2012. With gold prices at their current levels and the global economy in an upheaval, we are in a good growth position as we continue to improve our milling facility and bring the SSX-Steer mine into production," said Robert Baldock, president and chief executive officer, in a statement.
Grande Cache Coal Corp. fell as much as 10 per cent early Tuesday as it announced its financial and operating results for the three months ended June 30, 2011. GCE said it anticipates that coal sales volumes for fiscal 2012 will be on the low end of its projected range of 2.2 to 2.4 million tonnes. "The No. 8 surface pit continues to be in the early stages of production and coal volumes are being impacted by tight mining conditions and a higher strip ratio than that which is expected over the life of the pit," it said. Grande Cache Coal earned income of $7.2-million or $0.07 per basic and diluted share during the first-quarter of fiscal 2012, compared with income of $4.2-million or $0.04 per basic and diluted share in the same period last fiscal year. Profit from operations was $10.4-million versus $8.4-million in the first-quarter last fiscal year. Coal sales volumes were 0.39 million tonnes, versus 0.45 in the same period last year. Mechanical issues at the port in the latter part of June and shipping delays resulted in two vessel loadings (approximately 70,000 tonnes) being delayed until the first week of July. Metallurgical coal accounted for approximately 84 per cent of the total sales volume with the remainder being thermal coal. Revenue generated during the first-quarter of fiscal 2012 was $79.7-million, compared with $69.0-million in the comparable period last year. First-quarter cost of sales, excluding depreciation, was $59.7-million or $152 per tonne, compared with $56.7-million or $113 per tonne last year.
Canadian investment bank and brokerage firm Canaccord Financial Inc. on Tuesday said it has held preliminary takeover talks with UK-listed Evolution, but added there is no guarantee it will make an official bid. Evolution is also in the sights of South African financial group Investec.
Capstone Mining Corp. fell around 5 per cent early Tuesday after reporting net earnings of $15.5-million, or 7 cents per share, on $78.9-million in second-quarter revenue. The miner reported a $44.7-million profit during the same quarter last year. Capstone also said a new feasibility study of its Santo Domingo iron oxide, copper and gold project in Chile forecasts 255 million pounds of copper production per year during its first five years of operations, easing to 144 million pounds per year as the mine matures. Annual production also should include about 4.1 million tons of iron concentrate and 15,000 ounces of gold. Total capital costs are projected to be $1.24-billion, including a 14 per cent contingency, with Santo Domingo expected to pay for itself within three years. Capstone has a 70 per cent stake in the project with Korea Resources Corp. owning the rest.
Profit at Magellan Aerospace Corp. fell nearly 32 per cent compared to year-ago levels in its fiscal second-quarter, sliding almost $2.3-million to $4.89-million, or 10 cents per share, during the three months ended June 30. Overall revenue rose 2.6 per cent to $186-million although sales by the Aerospace unit slipped 9 per cent, largely due to declines in Canadian sales following a work stoppage at Magellan's plant in Winnipeg and lower volumes for certain product lines. Revenue for the power-generation segment grew 42 per cent to $42.3-million, in part, due to extra work on a electric-generation project in Ghana not covered by the original contract.
Vecta Energy Corp. said discussions are ongoing with Vecta Oil & Gas Ltd. to revise their joint venture agreement for the Montana Bakken light oil play to "better reflect the companies' new strategy". Vecta Oil & Gas owns proprietary multi-component seismic technology, available exclusively to the joint venture, and has been successful at imaging stratigraphically complex clastic and carbonate traps. The parties said they expect to finalize terms by Aug. 31.
Eagle Hill Exploration Corp. bought the remaining 50 per cent interest in the Urban-Barry claims that make up Windfall Lake East, the property in the Abitibi mineral belt of northern Quebec next to its Windfall Lake Property. Under the terms of the Aug. 2 agreement, Eagle Hill will issue 200,000 shares of its common stock to Murgor Resources Inc. , along with $5,000 in cash. The deal, still pending approval from the TSX Venture Exchange, was negotiated through a non-arm's length transaction by way of a director with seats on the board of both companies.
Drilling supply company Bri-Chem Corp. closed on a new $80-million, asset-based loan facility with a pair of banks, CIBC Asset-Based Lending Inc. and HSBC Bank Canada. The initial term of the facility is for three years and it replaces an existing $50-million revolving line of credit for the wholesale distributor of oil and gas drilling fluids, steel pipe and piping products. Bri-Chem said a portion of the loan package will be used to pay down $2.6-million in long-term debt.
Silvermex Resources Inc. said silver production for the second-quarter of 2011 decreased 12.5 per cent from first-quarter levels. Gold production was off 6 per cent. The miner said the declines were caused, in part, to restricted cyanide deliveries to the company refinery following flooding at a cyanide production facility in Memphis, Tenn.
Centric Health Corp. has completed its $9.7-million acquisition of Dedicated National Pharmacies Inc. and other assets of the DNPI Group, a network of 10 specialty pharmacies servicing 33 treatment centres in Ontario for patients in methadone maintenance treatment programs. Centric said it intends to integrate DNPI within its existing specialty pharmacy unit, with an eye toward expanding its services into other provinces. The company last week said the pharmacy unit performed below expectations during the April-to-June quarter, generating only $1.05-million in sales, adding it was pursuing diversification strategies to improve revenue flow.