CEY is a gold mining company operating in Egypt. It was ordered by the Egyptian Government to stop drilling pending a legal dispute brought against the company by a government minister.

Since then, the whole Government cabinet was replaced a few months ago and the minister now in charge of Mining is believed to be positive on Western investment in the country. CEY are pushing for this minister to allow them to continue drilling ASAP; investers are waiting....patiently.

As soon as the company gets the go-ahead to continue drilling, the share price will move north; CEY has plenty of gold in this mine and it is (apparantly) the case of "raking" it out rather than drilling for it!

Check them out...worthy of a punt.

Centamin “Back On Gold Output Target”
By Robert Tyerman

Being a pioneer in a country where the political regime can change abruptly has its perils, as Josef El-Raghy, the Australian financier who chairs Egyptian gold miner Centamin, has been learning the hard way of late.

Centamin is currently mining the 15 million ounce Sukari mine in the Sahara desert near the Red Sea, Egypt’s first major gold mine in modern times.
But it’s been a bit of a stop-go affair of late.

The London headquartered company is about to resume export shipments after suspending operations amid a welter of legal claim and counter claim over fuel payments, export licences and its very right to operate.

Centamin declares it believes it is still on track to hoist output 25 per cent this year to 250,000 ounces despite the interruption, with a doubling to 500,000 ounces in sight for 2015.

“By the weekend we should be back and running”, says Centamin spokesman Tony Davidson. “We still have a degree of confidence in our production guidance for the current year”, he adds.

Davidson does, however, suggest it would be helpful if the Cairo government could produce a mining code to govern the exploitation of Egypt’s mineral wealth, rather than relying as hitherto on adaptations of the system used for oil.

When the legal issues prompted Centamin to put Sukari on care and maintenance, investors saw the shares halve in a day to 27.7p. The company also warned of possible cash pressures at the same time.

The shares have since rallied to 43.25p, valuing the company at £476.3 million.
But that’s still a far cry from when the shares were challenging the 200p level not two years ago, and even from the 107p they stood at less than 12 months ago.

Centamin lifted pre-tax profits six-fold last year to US$182 million (£115 million) on turnover up 290 per cent to US$340.5 million. The market has been looking for £127 million pre-tax this year, rising to more than £200 million for 2013, provided normal activities are resumed and continue.

The company negotiated its original Sukari concession with the now-deposed regime of the autocratic and self-enriching Hozni Mubarak, and concede that that does it few favours in a country now ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Centamin started to produce gold from Sukari in 2009, with no tax to pay but a 50-50 profit sharing agreement with the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority (EMRA) that will be triggered once Centamin’s full investment, now US$700 million and expected to hit US$1 billion, has been recovered. There’s also a three per cent royalty on the property.

Under Egyptian rules, Centamin paid a below-market price for diesel fuel obtained from US group Chevron, thanks to a fuel subsidy it received in common with other companies in the country. Recently, things started to change.

First, the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), part of the Ministry of Petroleum, said Centamin must, via Chevron, pay the full international diesel price , with no subsidy, thus raising production costs at Sukari from U$550 to U$700 an ounce. That was not comfortable, but was probably bearable against a gold price of US$1,695 an ounce.

Centamin claimed in court this was unfair, as it did not apply to other companies in Egypt, but was carrying on at Sukari. But then the authorities launched what it condemned as an “illegal” claim for some US$65 million (£41 million) , representing the total subsidy received between 2009 and 2012.

Meanwhile, a local campaigner sued the Egyptian government over Centamin’s original concession and it was alleged there was no proof it had secured the required document from the Ministry of Petroleum converting its original Sukari licence into an exploitation licence. Not so, said Centamin. “There was a copy sitting in our office in Alexandria”, recalls Davidson.

The EMRA has been very supportive, however, and after the suspension of work and exports from Sukari, the company subsequently sought to resume them, though nervous customs officials initially blocked that move.

Then EGPC waived its US$65 million retrospective claim, though Centamin expects the case over subsidy withdrawal could take months, and the company is resuming exports.

Davidson says Centamin does not detect any local or outside interests at work, seeking to take over Sukari. He blames instead post-Mubarak sensitivities and perhaps inadequate attention paid by the company to local media.

Centamin does have other interests, with exploration in Ethiopia and 15 per cent of Horn of Africa-focused Nyota Minerals. But for now a re-rating will depend on mending fences and clarifying arrangements in Egypt.

minesite/centamin-back-on-gold-output-target

StockMarketWire.com
Canaccord Genuity has upgraded its recommendation on gold miner Centamin (LON:CEY) to "speculative buy" from "hold" after the company resumed operations at its Sukari mine. The City broker has increased its share price target to 90 pence from 40 pence. Broker Forecasts consensus data highlights that the City analysts remain extremely positive on the stock with 67 per cent having a buy rating on Centamin with the remainder at neutral / hold. Analyst Dmitry Kalachev said: "We expect a short suspension of operations to have relatively small impact on production this and next years. We expect production this year to be 235koz (just marginally below 250koz guidance). Having resumed exports, working capital should start to rebuild and the company should be in a position to continue financing Stage 4 from the cash flow. Following resumption of operations we reinstate our Speculative Buy (from hold) recommendation and increase our target price to 90 pence (from 40 pence)."

Egypt's constitution seen passing in referendum

CAIRO | Sat Dec 22, 2012 3:20am EST

(Reuters) - Egyptians voted on a constitution drafted by Islamists on Saturday in a second round of balloting expected to approve the charter that opponents say will create deeper turmoil in Egypt.

After a first round last week in which unofficial results showed 57 percent of those who voted approved the constitution, the opposition cried foul, saying a litany of alleged abuses meant the first stage of the referendum should be re-run.

But the committee overseeing the two-stage vote said their investigations showed no major irregularities in voting on December 15, which covered about half of Egypt's 51 million eligible voters.

Islamist supporters of President Mohamed Mursi, who was elected in June, say the constitution is vital to moving Egypt towards democracy two years after Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in a popular uprising. They say it will help restore the stability needed to fix an economy that is on the ropes.

If the basic law is passed, a parliamentary election will be held in about two months.

Oh well, it seems the passing of the law, give way to the optimistic future for the country businesss though not yet the political one though calming down alot since.

Maybe is that the reason for CEY bouncing back a bit today on a very low volume everywere


moneyam intraday chart not so good as the share price today, but that is live overhere

.

this extract from a much longer article will help sentiment even without Tanker's gentle massaging hand ....

Prime Minister Hisham Qandil said on Sunday that Egypt wants to resume talks with the International Monetary Fund in January on a $4.8-billion loan frozen this month because of political tensions and unrest.
"We have invited (the IMF) to resume talks during January," Qandil told a news conference in Cairo.
He said the sum involved was "small," but "its value is in the sign of confidence it gives to the Egyptian economy," which he admitted was in difficulty although talk of bankruptcy was not in order.

.

now I'm confused. 17 Dec was the date CEY gave as resumption of shipments and presumably this happened and payment was made since the subsequent resumption of operations was conditional on the cash flow. Is the 18th Dec another shipment or has the original shipment not been made?
As usual with CEY news flow from them is pathetically poor.

it's only 11am and hermans post deleted already.,.

yes, he is very dull ..... why he bothers to post something and then delete, goodness knows

Different shipment of 400kg according to Reuters.

Concerning mnamreh, I think it's all to do with a post he made quite a while ago which many of us disagreed with. He now has a persecution complex coupled with anxiety and confidence issues. Occasionally I copy & paste his posts just to rock the boat a little, but .....takes all sorts to make a world!!!

he should take the view of the jews who know and accept that not only are they the Chosen Race, but also deserve to be prosecuted :-)

....or even persecuted???? !!!! ;o)

or prostrated........

or even persecuted indeed, which of course was what i meant to write

lol. At least you didn't delete :-)

i never do, though i occasionally go back to edit

Copied from another board
"I am from Egypt so I would like to explain a VERYYYYYYYYYYY important point.

The appeal launched today was filed by the Egyptian State Lawsuits Authority, it's Egypt's most prestigious independent legal authority which looks after Egypt's national & international interests. It simply represents Egypt in courts!!

In general, the main mission of the Egyptian State Lawsuits Authority is to defend the public funds and interests of the Egyptian people. It only decides to act in courts when national interests arise... so simply today we had EGYPT appealing in court supporting CEY that's why the case was postponed to join both appeals...

So now we have CEY + National Authority of mineral resources + Egyptian State Lawsuits Authority (or shall I say EGYPT) on one side, and on the other side a single lawyer representing himself !! To be honest if he wins I have to take my hat off for him :))

CEY SP was above £1 before this case launched, Gold price was less... Are you still worried about 2%, 3%, ....... 10% up or down in the next few weeks???!!!!"

Egypt allow the export of 476 kilo grams of gold for "Centamin Egypt

Yousef Al-Rajhi CEY CEO said "The company reached an agreement with the Customs Department on the procedures and approvals required for export shipments of gold in the coming period and the non-recurrence of its detention at the airport in Cairo."

Mr Al Rajhi said on Sunday: "The Customs Department at Cairo International Airport had already agreed late last week to allow the export of a shipment of gold amounting to 476 kilos to Canada on board the Air France on Thursday after a delay of more than three weeks, where planned export shipment since last December 18th, but officials at the Ministry of Finance's intransigence prevented it. "

Customs refused two shipments of gold during the past two months because of lack of access to formal approval from the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, causing damage to the company's as Yousef Al Rajhi said.

Egypt receives 55% of the total extractions of gold since the beginning of 2012, the foreign partner gets 45% through a body stamping and balances in accordance with the agreement concluded with the company.
Al Rajhi explained that under the agreement with the Customs Department, the company would only just get the approval management control of foreign companies at The Mineral Resources Authority on shipments of gold that CEY exports as it is the body entrusted with this task.

He added that the export process was the same measures taken by the company in the previous export shipments of gold, and as stipulated in the Convention of mine, which affirms the right of CEY in export directly without reference to any destination.

It is noteworthy that Egypt has signed an agreement with the company "Sentamin Egypt", owned most of its shares to the company "Sentamin Australian", to explore the gold mine alsukari, a huge gold mine located in Red Sea Governorate, the mine is a candidate to be ranked among the 10 largest gold mines in the world.

Rajhi interpreted approval of the customs authority on the export shipment, saying: "The complaint made by the company to Egyptian Prime Minister last Wednesday may had pushed the Customs Department to allow the export of cargo without requiring the written consent of the Minister of Petroleum as we have already asked for this."

http://www.el-balad.com/359943