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.

harry - just seen your post ..... a slightly odd venue for an AGM it must be said :-)

Egyptian Legal Proceedings Update

The Company has been informed that the first hearing in its appeal against the decision of the Egyptian Administrative Court on 30 October 2012, which sought to revoke Centamin's exploitation lease for the Sukari Gold Mine, shall be heard on 19 June 2013 before the Supreme Administrative Court of Egypt ("SAC").

Prior to such hearing, the Egyptian State Commissioner's Office has produced a report containing non-binding recommendations for SAC. Whilst these recommendations are not positive, the Company does not believe that they address the substantive merits of Centamin's appeal and as such the Company's grounds of appeal remain unchanged upon the initial review of the State Commissioners report.

The Company continues to prepare for the appeal hearing and shall continue to vigorously defend its rights to the Sukari Gold Mine. The recommendations of the State Commissioner's Office are advisory only and importantly Centamin notes that in its ruling on 20 March 2013, in enforcing its decision to suspend the ruling of the Administrative Court, SAC unanimously held that, "on the basis of the copy of the exploitation lease executed by the Minister of Petroleum presented to SAC, the annulment of such lease by the Administrative Court was likely to be cancelled upon the issuance of a judgment on the merits of the case."

As such pending the final outcome of the court process, Sukari continues to operate normally.

RBC comment today:
"State Commissioner’s Office recommendation negative, hearing scheduled for June – Centamin has received notice that the first hearing in its appeal against the decision to annul the exploitation lease for Sukari will be held by the Egyptian Supreme Administrative Court on the 19th June. Ahead of this hearing the State Commissioner’s Office has produced a report containing non binding recommendations to the court. This report was made available to the company yesterday evening and the recommendations are negative from the company’s perspective. Management believes that the report does not address the merits of the appeal, both in terms of the specific area of the initial lease having been gazetted in the appropriate manner by the Minister of Petroleum and the broader area of the fairness of the contract between the company and the state. Management has also noted that in the hearing on the 20th March, during which the judgement suspending the enforcement of the initial Administrative court judgement was made, the Supreme Administrative Court, having been presented with a copy of the exploitation lease indicated “that given the evidence of this approval the annulment of such lease is likely to be cancelled upon the issuance of a judgment on the merits of the case.” The exploitation lease was annulled on the basis that it had not been appropriately gazetted by the Minister of Petroleum; as the company has now provided a signed copy of the exploitation lease to the court we believe that on balance the annulment is ultimately likely to be overturned. There is no certainty that this will be the case, however, and we would expect the shares to be volatile until the court case is resolved.
Solid production in Q1, guidance maintained, expansion on track - Centamin reported solid Q1 production of 87 koz (+77% year on year) from the company's Sukari mine in Egypt. This was a good result and keeps Centamin on track to achieve its 2013 guidance of 320 koz at a cash cost for US$700/oz. The company has also confirmed that the expansion of the plant from 5 Mt/year to 10 Mt/year remains on track for complete commissioning by the end of the year.
Solid balance sheet, low all in sustaining costs - Centamin finished 2012 with US$147.1 million of cash and with US$97 million of outstanding capital expenditure for the plant expansion. The company started 2012 with US$164.2 million and had investing cash flows of -US$243.8 million during the year, including US$223.5 million of capital expenditure on the mine and plant. We believe that the company has low all-in sustaining costs of US$849/oz compared to the African peer group on US$1,224/oz

Results for the Quarter Ended 31 March 2013

HIGHLIGHTS (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

· Record quarterly earnings, with basic earnings per share 6.60 cents; up 6% on Q4 2012 and 66% on the prior year period, before exceptional charges.

· Record quarterly EBITDA US$81.7 million; up 6% on Q4 2012 and 71% on the prior year period, before exceptional charges.

· Record gold production 87,016 ounces, up 2% quarter-on-quarter and 77% on the prior year period.

· Cash cost of production of US$556 per ounce, below 2013 full year guidance of US$700 per ounce, primarily due to reduced open pit mining costs as a result of the build-up in broken material following the temporary suspension of operations in December 2012.

· Stage 4 plant expansion (to 10Mtpa) remains on track for the bulk of commissioning to commence, and be completed, in the second half of 2013. Expenditure to date is US$274.4 million of the total unchanged forecast of US$325 million, including contingency, with the remaining balance to continue to be funded from cost recoveries.

· 2013 guidance maintained at 320,000 ounces at a cash cost of production of US$700 per ounce inclusive of fuel prepayments.

· Centamin remains debt-free and un-hedged with cash, bullion on hand, gold sales receivables and available-for-sale financial assets of US$188.7 million as at 31 March 2013.

· Drilling continued at the V-Shear porphyry and Kurdeman prospect.

· Initial results in Ethiopia confirm the existence of low grade mineralisation, with drilling continuing.

· Diesel Fuel Court Case and appeal in Supreme Administrative Court are ongoing. Operations continue as normal and any enforcement of the initial decision has been suspended pending the appeal ruling.

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Westhouse Securities Buy 38.11 65.00 65.00 Reiterates

Canaccord Genuity Hold 38.11 38.00 38.00 Reiterates

Liberum Capital Buy 38.11 - 100.00 Retains

Strategic Alliance with Centamin Plc

Highlights:

· Alecto and Centamin have entered into a non-binding heads of terms agreement in relation to a proposed joint venture between the two companies ('Joint Venture')
· The purpose of the Joint Venture is to pursue opportunities offered by certain mining projects identified by Alecto and Centamin within the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
· It is intended that a formal joint venture agreement ('JV Agreement') will be entered into between Centamin and Alecto in due course
· Both companies will participate in selecting future targets through a JV Committee
· Any targets progressed by the JV committee will be deemed JV Projects and held by the JV
· Centamin will invest £250,000 in Alecto by way of a share subscription at a price per share of 1.6p a 74% premium to share price at close of business 28 May 2013
· Alecto currently holds two exploration licences in prospective greenstone belts of Ethiopia - Wayu Boda and Aysid Metekel

In auction +12.4% - someone likes the army action!

Time for a few bars of Colonel Bogey

over 38p today and rising since the change of goverment


Outlook more uncertain after Morsi ousting, says ING IM

The immediate outlook for the Middle East is more uncertain following the ousting of Egypt president Mohamed Morsi, according to ING Investment Management.

And it warns that the oil price could be pushed higher.

Senior emerging market strategist Jan Bakkum says that while the ousting of Morsi by the Egyptian army prevented a violent climax in the battle between opponents and supporters, the fragile Egyptian democracy has not been helped by the coup.

And Bakkum says that while new interim leadership might look reasonable from the outside, it does not have large popular support.

Bakkum says: "The pre-Morsi status quo has been restored: the army holds the power in Egypt. By removing Morsi and trying to avoid a situation of total anarchy, the military leadership is protecting its own large economic interests. More than 20% of the Egyptian economy is in the hands of the military.

"One of the big questions now is how the Muslim Brotherhood will react to the new situation. They remain a powerful group in Egypt with many followers. Their Islamist agenda is supported by a large part of the Egyptian population.

"Not a big surprise, but still interesting was the reaction to the coup from Turkey. The government in Ankara condemned the coup and the ruling AK Party called it a sign of backwardness. The Turkish government shared with the Morsi administration its Islamist agenda and its ambition to reduce the power of the military."

Bakkum says the risk of an economic blow-up has increased. Since the beginning of the Egyptian uprising, in January 2011, the Egyptian economy has been kept afloat with big support packages from IMF, EU and friendly Gulf states. With balance-of-payments and budget dynamics still acute, but with the democratic legitimacy of the Egyptian leadership gone, it has become more difficult to expect more foreign support in the coming period. Money that was already pledged, might not be disbursed now. This increases the likelihood of a sharp depreciation of the Egyptian pound.

Bakkum adds: "A currency crisis can make things much worse than they already are. Egypt imports much of its basic food needs. Food price inflation would go up, which could lead to more popular unrest in an already highly impoverished and polarised country.

"It is difficult to say what the potential impact of the Egyptian crisis will be outside of Egypt. Its relevance is high mainly for the Middle East: for the conflict in Syria, for Israel and for the other Arab countries where regimes have been pushed out or challenged since 2011. Turkey has lost one of its main allies in the region.

"All in all, the immediate outlook for the region has become even more difficult than it already was. As a result, the oil price could be pushed higher."

Westhouse Securities Buy 38.41 55.00 55.00 Reiterates

Nomura Buy 38.41 70.00 45.00 Reiterates

Q2 Preliminary Production Results

Centamin is pleased to announce preliminary production results from its Sukari Gold Mine ("Sukari") in Egypt for the quarter ended 30 June 2013.

Total gold production for the quarter was a record 93,624 ounces (year to date 180,640 ounces), a 39% increase on the corresponding quarter in 2012 and 8% higher than Q1 2013. Formal guidance for the current year was provided on 14 March 2013 and remains at 320,000 ounces gold at a cash operating cost of US$700 per ounce.

Open pit total material movement increased 4% from Q1 2013 to 11,019kt and open pit ore production increased 39% on Q1 2013 to 2,961kt which led to an increase in the run of mine ore stockpile balance of 432kt to 1,191kt at the end of the period. The underground mine delivered 142kt, up 19% on Q1 2013.

Quarterly throughput at the Sukari process plant was a record 1,418kt, a 12% increase on the prior year period and a 1% increase on Q1 2013; exceeding the nameplate annualised rate of 5 million tonnes for the second successive quarter and primarily driven by continued high levels of productivity and availability of the processing plant.

with the political upheaval in egypt unlikely to resolve for a great many months, i see no good reason to chuck any new money in here ...... if you're already a holder, then shut your eyes and keep your fingers crossed

Westhouse Securities Buy 39.86 38.36 55.00 55.00 Reiterates

free advise?
not worth the paper written on

"What's NOT good for the goose is good for the gander"


Despite the political upheaval, the company is processing record numbers
my moto, buying at lows, is certainly nothing wrong with that

you don't like free "advise" (sic!)? .... please let me know where to send the invoice then

Results for the Quarter Ended 30 June 2013

HIGHLIGHTS IN Q2 2013 (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)
· Record gold production 93,624 ounces, up 8% quarter-on-quarter and 39% on the prior year period.

· Basic earnings per share 4.75 cents; down 28% on Q1 2013 and up 23% on the prior year period.

· EBITDA US$63.7 million; down 22% on Q1 2013 and up 15% on the prior year period.

· Cash cost of production of US$690 per ounce, in line with 2013 full year guidance of US$700 per ounce.

· Stage 4 plant expansion (to 10Mtpa) remains on track for the bulk of commissioning to commence, and be completed, in the second half of 2013. Expenditure to date is US$300.1 million of the total unchanged forecast of US$325 million, including contingency, with the remaining balance to continue to be funded from cost recoveries.

· 2013 guidance maintained at 320,000 ounces at a cash cost of production of US$700 per ounce inclusive of fuel prepayments.

· Centamin remains debt-free and un-hedged with cash, bullion on hand, gold sales receivables and available-for-sale financial assets of US$169.4 million as at 30 June 2013.

· An updated resource and reserve statement is planned during the second half of 2013.

· Exploration activities continued at Sukari and in Ethiopia with results continuing to justify further drilling.

· The Supreme Administrative Court appeal and Diesel Fuel Court Case are both ongoing. Operations continue as normal and any enforcement of the Administrative Court decision has been suspended pending the appeal ruling.

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EGYPT- Clearing the Square by police ...... 25 dead so far today

Mubarak is ready to be released tomorrow