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.

Canaccord note today:
"Centamin produced a total of 92koz in Q4/13 (vs our estimate of 73koz) and 357koz in 2013 (vs our estimate of 338koz), above the production guidance of 320koz.
Commissioning activities for the Stage 4 expansion (from 5mtpa to 10mtpa) started during the quarter, with minimal impact on production.
2014 guidance is expected to be provided later in Q1/14. We currently forecast 362koz, which looks conservative given today's results.
Impact on the Canaccord Genuity view The results are positive and substantially better than we expected as we had based our forecast on the company's guidance of lower production in Q4/13 versus the average in Q1-Q3 due to the Stage 4 commissioning. It may be the case that Stage 4 commissioning started at the end of the quarter and quarterly production has not yet been affected. This may mean production in Q1/14 is somewhat lower than the average quarterly output in 2013. We currently expect 76koz in Q1/14 (vs 89koz quarterly average in 2013), which already looks fairly conservative.
Underground production has continued to deliver higher volumes with the annualised rate of 696kt achieved in Q4/13, well above the 600ktpa guidance.
The processing plant continued to run at above its annual capacity of 5mtpa.
Valuation - We maintain a Speculative Buy recommendation and 60p/share target price. In 2014 we expect a shift to positive FCF and the final court ruling on the license appeal, which we expect to be positive for Centamin.
Our target price is achieved after applying a 0.8x target multiple to our NAV estimate of 76p using Canaccord Genuity's gold forward price deck. Our target multiple is based on a comparative analysis of gold producers under our London coverage with a number of quantitative and qualitative parameters used (please refer to our separate note "New framework for the New Year" published on 20 December).
Share performance catalyst
Financial results (Q1/14) and a final decision on the court appeal against the decision to suspend Sukari's mining license (2-14)."

StockMarketWire.com
Centamin's documentation for its recommended takeover offer of Ampella Mining has been lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and Australian Securities Exchange and will be sent to shareholders today (13 January).

The bidder's statement and target statement are available on the Centamin website at www.centamin.com.

Liberum Capital Buy 46.62 46.62 - 63.00 Retains

StockMarketWire.com
Investec has moderated its recommendation on Centamin (LON:CEY) and moved to an "add" stock rating (from "buy"), given the reduced level of potential upside after applying its revised commodity price assumptions to its stock valuation. The broker has cut its price target to 46 pence per share (from 51 pence) which, with the shares currently changing hands at around the 46 pence mark, suggests a forecast total return of 4 per cent.
Separately, Canaccord Genuity and Liberum Capital repeated "speculative buy" and "buy" recommendations, yesterday, with Canaccord cutting its price target to 53 pence a share (from 60 pence) while Liberum set a target of 63 pence.

the referendum in egypt, just concluded, is forecast to show strong support for the anti-MB faction which must surely be good for international confidence
one would hope that the result is also a reflection of genuine popular sentiment and that the protests (for sure there will be some) will be minor and short-lived

with that in mind, CEY may be worth revisiting, even if it is in the most unfashionable gold sector

having just spoken to my chap in cairo, he reminds me of possible (probable) demos on 25th january, being the anniversary of the revolution .... i suggest it would be prudent to hold fire until after that

Market Update

2014 Production Guidance, Sukari Gold Mine Exploration Update and Site Visit

Centamin is pleased to advise forecast production for the year 2014 from the Sukari Gold Mine of 420,000 gold ounces at a cash operating cost of US$700 per ounce. This would represent an 18% increase on 2013 production of 356,943 ounces and would become the fifth successive year of output growth at Sukari.

The Stage 4 expansion project is currently in the commissioning phase and throughput is expected to steadily increase during the year providing the ability to deliver on our long term production target of 450-500,000 gold ounces per annum.

A key component of the Centamin production profile is the underground operation. Exploration drilling from underground is ongoing with UGRSD0041 encountering significant mineralisation of 10m @ 162g/t Au (Table 1).

This intersection is located on the foot wall contact of the porphyry 20 metres below the existing Amun workings at the base of the recently reported Indicated resource for the Underground. As such this does not form part of the recently reported Underground Mineral Reserve.

Further drilling in this area is ongoing and while results are still pending, core from subsequent drill holes is similar in appearance and geology to the core from UGRSD0041 adding to the confidence that underground resource and reserve growth will continue.

3 Feb: Numis Securities reiterates: Buy - TP raised from 60p to 70p.

centamin on a mission today

This may have some bearing.

Egypt government resigns, paving way for Sisi to seek presidency

This company looks too good on paper...

.

OMI up as well...(for minnow lovers)....

Pike loves minnows
Stupid boy :-)

CEY could be targeted by insurgents unless the army keep a presents there

Yes... uncle arfur....

Stupid boy

Market Update

Market Update - Centamin Gains Controlling Interest in Ampella Mining

Further to the announcements of 10 December 2013 and 13 January 2014, Centamin declared, on 20 February 2014, that its off-market takeover offer for Ampella was free from all defeating conditions pursuant to a notice filed on the Australian Stock Exchange ("ASX") and ASIC. Accordingly, the offer is now unconditional.

As at 7.00pm (Sydney time) on 24 February 2014, Centamin, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Centamin West Africa Holdings Limited ("CWA"), had a relevant interest in 126,321,285 shares or 51.14% in Ampella Mining Limited ("Ampella").

This gives Centamin the right under the offer to appoint a majority of the directors to the board of Ampella and to take effective control of all operational matters concerning Ampella. Centamin has requested that Paul Kitto, Ron Renton and Michael Anderson resign from the board of Ampella and has nominated Josef El-Raghy, Mark Arnesen and Heidi Brown to be appointed as directors of Ampella. Peter Mansell and Ronnie Beevor shall continue as non-executive directors of Ampella until the earlier of Ampella de-listing from the ASX or CWA acquiring a relevant interest in 90% of the shares in Ampella.

Josef El-Raghy, Chairman of Centamin, commented:

"We are pleased to have successfully gained control of Ampella and thank the outgoing directors for their support during this recommended offer process. We also recognise the key contribution that Dr Paul Kitto has made to establishing a significant new gold province in Burkina Faso and we welcome his future involvement with our management group so that we may continued to discover and develop gold projects in this area and the wider region."

Peel Hunt note:
"We downgrade Centamin to a Hold following a strong share price performance in recent months. Our target price for Centamin is based on our application of a 40% risking factor to adjust for the risk associated with the on-going court case. Whilst we remain of the view that the ultimate outcome of the court case will be positive for Centamin, we have not seen any material changes in the risk profile of the case that would justify a reduction in our current risk weighting. Indeed investors can choose their own risk factor for Centamin which we value at 87p on an un-risked basis
Positive ruling still likely in court case: Our original Buy recommendation for Centamin was based on our view that the ultimate outcome of the current court case regarding a legal challenge to Centamin’s operating license will reach a positive conclusion in 2014. We applied a risked NPV approach to the business with a risking factor of 40%. Whilst we remain of the view that this is the most likely outcome, we do not yet see sufficient evidence to adjust our risking factor and therefore reduce our recommendation to a hold after the recent rise in share price.
Proposed legislative amendments will provide further support: Proposed legislation currently being tabled in Egypt contains provisions to prevent third parties from challenging contracts made between the government and an investor, this proposal is intended to boost investor confidence in the country at a time when it is desperately needed. If such legislation were in force at the time of the original challenge by Mr Fakharany it would have prevented his efforts to remove Centamin’s operating license. We regard this proposal as an indication of the direction of political opinion on issues such as the Centamin case and a reinforcement of our view that the ultimate outcome of the court case is likely to be positive.
Valuation & Recommendation: Our un-risked valuation of Centamin on a PV of future cash flows basis is 87p with a 40% risking factor to arrive at our current target price. The selection of this risking factor depends largely on investor risk appetite and can be adjusted by investors at their own discretion. We would look to review this risking factor downwards in the event of a positive outcome in the court case. Until such time we are of the view that a 40% risk weighting is appropriate to reflect the uncertainties of predicting the decisions of the Egyptian legal system and move to a Hold recommendation."

From yesterday - Nomura Buy 58.68 45.00 85.00 Upgrades