Monday, Dec 17, 2012
By Alex MacDonald
LONDON--Egypt-focused miner Centamin PLC (CEE.T) said Monday it resumed gold exports on Sunday and expects both fuel supply and normal operations at its Sukari gold mine in Egypt to resume "in coming days" following last week's interruption.
Centamin was forced last week to suspend operations at Sukari, its only operating mine, due to a lack of diesel supply and cash shortfall after state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corp refused to supply more diesel to the mine until $65 million in back payments were paid and after a customs official unexpectedly halted the company's gold exports on grounds that Centamin needed pre-approval from Egypt's Finance Ministry to export gold.
Centamin said on Friday, a day after it announced the halt of operations at Sukari, that EGPC has notified Sukari's fuel supplier Chevron Corp (CVX) that diesel supplies could resume and that no retrospective payment was currently due.
Centmain then said on Monday that it expects both fuel and normal operations at Sukari to resume once payment for the latest gold shipment has been received and working capital has subsequently been replenished.
At 0912 GMT, Centamin's share price was up 26% at 44 pence a share, resulting in a market capitalization of GBP382 million.
Liberum Capital mining analyst Kate Craig said she has reinstated her buy recommendation on the stock after putting it under review. She said she expects analysts to downgrade their 2012 earnings estimates on about a week's worth of lost gold production.
Sukari is Centamin's only operating mine but it also has four exploration licenses in Ethiopia. The company previously said it expected to produce 250,000 troy ounces of gold from Sukari this year, up from 202,699 ounces in 2011.
-Write to Alex MacDonald at alex.macdonald@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
17-12-12 0927GMT
