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.

Q4 2017 Production, 2018 Guidance and R&R Update

Centamin is pleased to announce preliminary production results for the quarter ended 31 December 2017, outlook for 2018 and updated reserve and resource statement from its Sukari Gold Mine ("Sukari") in Egypt.



Preliminary Production Results

· 2017 full year gold production was 544,658 ounces, above guidance of 540,000 ounces.

· Gold production for Q4 2017 was 154,298 ounces, a 1.4% reduction quarter on quarter ("QoQ") and a 12.8% increase year on year ("YoY");

· Record quarterly throughput from the processing plant of 3,072kt, a 2.5% increase QoQ and 4.2% increase YoY;

· Open pit total material movement was 17.6Mt, a 5% reduction QoQ and 12% increase YoY;

· Quarterly open pit ore production was 5,726kt, at an average mined grade of 0.62g/t. This included 2,064kt at 0.32g/t delivered to the dump leach pads. The average head grade to the plant from the open pit was 0.92g/t;

· Run of mine ore stockpile balance increased by 742kt to 2,178kt, as at the end of the quarter;

· Underground operation delivered 298kt of ore, at an average mined grade of 8.8g/t, a 1% reduction in tonnes QoQ and a 31% increase YoY;

o Underground ore from stoping was 168kt at 9.27g/t;

o Underground ore from development was 130kt at 8.17g/t.

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Numis Buy 162.63 170.00 200.00 Retains

Centamin plc results for the year ended 31 December 2017 and full year dividend declaration


Josef El-Raghy, Chairman of Centamin, commented: "Testament to the quality of our team and the quality of our assets, the past year has seen the Company firmly consolidate its position as one of the world's leading low cost gold producers. The Sukari Gold Mine produced 544,658 ounces of gold in 2017, at a cash cost of production of US$554/oz and all-in sustaining cost of US$790/oz at an average realised gold price of US$1,261/oz, generating US$676 million in revenue, US$326 million in EBITDA and US$224 million in pre-tax profits. Commercially in operation for eight years, Sukari has maintained cash costs in the lowest quartile in the industry, averaging US$614/oz since commercial production commenced in 2010.

The central tenet of our corporate strategy is delivering returns to stakeholders. Following a strong operational and financial performance throughout the year, the board of directors is delighted to propose a final dividend for 2017 of 10 US cents per share, for approval at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting on 26 March 2018. This represents a proposed full year dividend of 12.5 US cents per share, totalling a full year pay-out of US$144 million, which is equivalent to approximately 100% of our free cash flow in 2017."


Financial Highlights(1),(2)

Fourth Quarter, ending 31 December 2017.

· Cash costs of production of US$453 per ounce, a 6% improvement quarter on quarter ("QoQ") on Q3 2017 and a 15% improvement year on year ("YoY) on Q4 2016, driven predominantly by an increase in ounces produced. The benefits of an increase in produced ounces (driven by increases in processed tonnes and grade) was slightly offset by an increase in fuel and reagent costs;

· All-in sustaining costs ("AISC(1)") of US$744 per ounce sold, were 2% higher QoQ and 3% higher YoY, mainly due to increased production costs and higher sustaining capital costs as a result of the planned fleet rebuilds.

Full Year, ending 31 December 2017

· Strong cash flow generation with US$142 million of free cash flow(1) generated in 2017, down 41% on the prior year (2016: US$242 million) almost entirely due to the impact of increased profit share payments;

· 2017 revenues of US$676 million were down 2% on the prior year (2016: US$687 million) with a 0.4% increase in realised gold prices offset by a decrease in gold sales;

· Cash costs increased to US$554 per ounce produced (2016: US$513), driven predominantly by an increase in mined and processed tonnes and an increase in fuel and reagent costs;

· AISC(1) of US$790 per ounce sold matched our forecast but was an increase on the prior year (2016: US$694), mainly due to increased production costs and higher sustaining capital costs resulting from planned fleet rebuilds;

· EBITDA(1) decreased by 13% to US$326 million, as a result of increased production and operating costs and the slight decrease in revenues;

· Profit before tax decreased by 16% to US$224.1 million, due to the factors outlined above;

· Earnings per share after profit share of 9.51 US cents were down 49% on the prior year due to lower revenue, higher costs and, most significantly, the impact of the first full year of profit share (2016: 18.71 US cents);

· Operational cash flow of US$359 million was 2% lower than 2016, due to the lower gold production base with higher gold prices offset by a higher cost base;

· Total capital expenditure for 2017 of US$107.5 million was a 2% increase on the prior year (2016: US$105.6 million). The US$19 million increase in sustaining capital (including the scheduled fleet rebuild programme) was largely offset by a US$17 million reduction in the non-sustaining capitalised exploration costs across the group;

· Cash and liquid assets (3) of US$418 million at 31 December 2017; and

· Centamin remains debt-free and unhedged.



Proposed Final Dividend

o Subject to shareholder approval at the Company's annual general meeting on Monday 26 March 2018:

o Proposed final dividend of 10 US cents per share (US$115.2m);

o Total dividend of 12.5 US cents per share, including the interim dividend of 2.5 US cents per share (paid out 29 September 2017);

o Proposed total dividend pay-out of approximately US$144 million, equivalent to approximately 100% of free cash flow in 2017; and

o Record date on 23 March 2018; Pay date on 6 April 2018.

Operational Highlights (1),(2)

· Full year gold production was 544,658 ounces, above guidance of 540,000 ounces and 1% decrease year on year ("YoY");

· Record processing throughput of 12.0Mt, a 4% improvement YoY and above our base case forecast rate of 11.8 Mtpa.

· Record open pit total material movement (waste plus ore) of 70.9Mt, a 14% improvement YoY.

· Record open pit ore production of 16.09Mt, a 47% improvement YoY, at an average mined grade of 0.66g/t. This included 3,965kt at 0.29g/t delivered to the dump leach pads. The average head grade to the plant from the open pit was 0.89g/t, a 6% decrease YoY; and

· Total underground ore mined of 1.14Mt, a 12% improvement YoY, at a grade of 8.28g/t, an 8% decrease YoY, marking the third consecutive year of sustained annualised rate above our base case forecast of 1Mt per annum.

o Underground ore from stoping was 684kt, a 21% increase YoY, at a grade of 8.88g/t;

o Underground ore from development was 461kt, a 1% increase YoY at a grade of 7.39g/t.



Exploration Highlights

· Exploration at Sukari drives high grade underground reserve expansion in excess of annual depleted mined ounces;

· Exploration success in Côte d'Ivoire has expanded last year's maiden resource at Doropo Project to 1.35Moz gold Indicated and 0.9Moz gold Inferred, with the main structure remaining open;

· Exciting new discovery at the ABC Project in Côte d'Ivoire where exploration delineated an outcropping 12km strike-length gold bearing structure; and

In Burkina Faso, drilling targeted resource and reserve expansion near Konkera.



2018 Outlook

· Forecast gold production for 2018 is 580,000 ounces, a 6.5% increase on 2017 actual production, with the mine plan forecasting a relatively balanced quarterly production profile over the year;

· Forecast cash cost of production for 2018 of US$555 per ounce and all-in-sustaining cost of US$770 per ounce;

· 2018 capital expenditure of US$135 million including US$37.5 million for non-sustaining exploration;

· Processing plant throughput of 12.3Mtpa, with the installation of the fourth secondary crusher increasing capacity;

· 70.5Mt total open pit material scheduled to be mined; 17.7Mt total open pit ore scheduled to be mined at an overall grade of 0.70g/t including dump-leach and stock-pile material, with open pit feed grade in line with open pit reserve grade;

· Open pit mining activities will be focused on Stage 4A of the north wall, the predominant source of ore over the next five years;

· 1.3Mt total underground ore scheduled to be mined at a grade of 7.2 g/t; comprising a 65:35 split between stoping and development ore, respectively;

· Ongoing decline development and exploration at Cleopatra, to access the high grade western contact, a key near term growth catalyst; Ongoing underground decline development at Amun and Ptah, to access the Horus, Bast and Osiris zones, which are key drivers of medium term growth;

· Four exploration rigs allocated to focus on underground reserve replacement and resource expansion drilling as the orebody remains open in multiple directions;

· Further resource development in West Africa, with resource expansion and definition continuing at the Doropo Project in north-east Côte d'Ivoire and resource definition drilling in Burkina Faso; and

· Follow up exploration work continues after encouraging first pass drill results from the ABC project in western Côte d'Ivoire delineated an outcropping 12km strike gold bearing structure.

Legal Developments in Egypt

· The Supreme Administrative Court appeal and Diesel Fuel Court Case are both on-going. With the potential for the legal process in Egypt to be lengthy there may be a number of hearings and adjournments before decisions are reached. There were no developments during the year in the two litigation actions.

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Payments to governments

BlackRock < 16%

Berenberg today reaffirms its hold investment rating on Centamin PLC (LON:CEY) and set its price target at 156p.

Goldman Sachs today reaffirms its conviction buy investment rating on Centamin PLC (LON:CEY) and set its price target at 220p.

StockMarketWire.com
Gold miner Centamin said its first-quarter profit more than doubled, supported by an uptick in gold production, lower sales costs and higher average realised gold prices.

Profit before tax rose 122% to $65.4m for the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago.

Gold production rose 14% to 124,296 ounces in the first quarter and the firm sold 131,045 ounces of gold, up from 115,052 ounces the previous year. While the average realised gold price rose to $1,328 per ounce, from $1,220 per ounce.

Cash costs of production fell 11% to $71.3m, cutting unit costs 21% to $581 per ounce produced.

The company maintained its full-year production guidance of 580,000 ounces at forecast cash cost of production of $555 per ounce and all-in sustaining costs of $770 per ounce.

StockMarketWire.com
Centamin lowered its production guidance for 2018 following persisting low grades in the open pit and lower development grades from underground production at its Sukari gold mine.

Production guidance for 2018 from Sukari was cut to between 505,000 and 515,000 ounces, at a cash cost of production of US$625 to US$640 per ounce produced and an all-in-sustaining cost of US$875 to US$890 per ounces sold, the company said.

'The updated mine plan forecasts a weaker Q2 and strong Q3 and Q4 production profile,' Centramin said.

Total underground production in the first quarter was 10% below forecast and production of ore tonnage mined fell amid a lack of production equipment availability.

The company said, however, that production equipment availability had since improved and ore tonnes from stoping would return to the previous 60:40 split stoping to development tonnes from a 50:50 split seen in the first quarter.

The processing plant and metallurgical recoveries were performing in line with expectations, the company said.

Centamin announces that Gordon Edward Haslam, Deputy Chair and Senior Independent Non-Executive Director, purchased 25,000 ordinary shares in the Company, on 14 June 2018, at a price of 117.1 pence per share. Following this purchase Gordon Edward Haslam holds 127,056 ordinary shares in the Company.

Q2 2018 Preliminary Production Results

Looking better here.

StockMarketWire.com
Centamin reaffirmed full-year output guidance Thursday after reporting profit before tax rose 34% in the first half of the year compared to the same period a year ago despite selling and producing less gold.

Production guidance for 2018 was maintained at a range of 505,000 to 515,000 ounces.

For the six months to 30 June, pretax profit rose 34% to $80.4m, total revenues rose 2% to $296.4m and earnings (EBITDA) rose 16% to $129.7m.

Gold production for the half year fell 7% to 217,099 ounces while gold sales fell 3% to 228,672 ounces. The drop in gold sales was offset somewhat by a 7% rise in average realised gold prices to $1,316 an ounce

Unit cash cost of production fell 5% to $637 an ounce from $668 an ounce, while the ASIC rose 8% to $930 an ounce.

The open pit delivered 11.6Mt of mined ore, a 109% increase year on year, from total material movement of 36.9Mt, a 7% increase year on year.

The underground mine delivered 601kt of ore, a 10% increase year on year, however the feed grade of 5.7g/t was 30% lower year on year and below mine plan, the company said.

Gross capital expenditure increased 56% to $53.9m, in line with the $113m budgeted for the full year, the company said.

Looking ahead, the company said unit cash cost of production remains on track with guidance of $625 to $640 per ounce produced.

While AISC per ounce sold is expected to trend downwards to within guidance range of $875 to $890 per ounce sold in the second half of the year, in line with increased production.

'Significantly stronger production is expected for the second half ("H2"), driven by continued improvements in grade from the open pit as mining progresses into the sulphide ore and an increase in high grade stoping tonnes from the underground,' the company said.

Q3 2018 Preliminary Production Results

OVERVIEW

· Gold production for Q3 was 117,720 ounces, a 27% improvement on the second quarter ("QoQ"), resulting from month on month operational improvements in the open pit and underground;

· September was a strong month with production of 48,511 ounces. However operational improvements have taken longer than planned to materialise;

· In Q4, we expect improvements to be sustained and production in the region of 145,000 ounces, resulting in a total 2018 annual production of approximately 480,000 ounces.

Open Pit

· Mining of the Stage 4 transitional zone was completed in Q3 and mining is now in the higher-grade fresh sulphide material, which will be the source of ore for at least the next three years;

· The open pit is performing slightly ahead of expectations, achieving another record quarter for ore mined and material moved (6.6Mt and 19.9Mt, respectively);

· Open pit ore grade mined has improved month on month, exiting at 0.74 g/t for September and averaging 0.64g/t in Q3; and

· Open pit average milled grade was 0.81g/t.

Underground

· Total underground ore mining of 327kt, a 13% increase QoQ, at an average mined grade of 5.18 g/t, a 12% increase QoQ due to the successful ongoing implementation of changes initiated in Q2:

o Ore mined from stoping was 199kt at 6.16 g/t

o Ore mined from development was 128kt at 3.65 g/t

o Stope to development ore split 60:40;

· Cleopatra decline development progressed 864.4 metres, delivering 70,897 tonnes of material at an average development grade of 1.56g/t:

o Produced 3,223 ounces in Q3

o Cleopatra exploration drilling continues to test the contact zones and at depth

o Assay results will be released as part of the detailed Results, to be published 1 November 2018.

Processing

· Total ore processed through the plant was 3.1Mt, at a head grade of 1.29g/t, a 31% increase QoQ; and

· Metallurgical plant recoveries for the quarter were 88.7% a 1% increase QoQ.

The Company will publish full Q3 Results on 1 November 2018. The results will be accompanied by a conference call for institutional investors and analysts at 09:00 BST (UK) on the same day.

Andrew Pardey, CEO commented:

"These results are a demonstrable operational improvement on Q2. We are extremely pleased with the operational performance from the open pit. We are through the transitional ore, grades are improving in line with the mine plan and will continue to through the fourth quarter. The underground improvements have been very encouraging and are continuing. Our focus remains on achieving optimal and consistent performance."


Conference call

A conference call will be hosted by the Company at 09.00 BST (UK) today to discuss the results and answer any questions. Where possible, please dial in 10 minutes before the start time using the details below:

Participant code: 78774386#

UK Toll: 02034281542
UK Toll Free: 08082370040

A replay will be made available on the Company website from 13.00 BST (UK) today.

Q4 and Full Year 2018 Preliminary Production Results

Centamin announces preliminary production results for the fourth quarter ("Q4") and twelve months ended 31 December 2018 from its Sukari Gold Mine ("Sukari") in Egypt.

Overview

· Gold production for Q4 was 137,600 ounces, a 17% improvement on the previous quarter ("QoQ"), predominantly driven by higher QoQ grades from both the open pit and underground. Month-on-month production profile was consistent at approximately 45,000 ounces per month;

· Full year gold production for 2018 was 472,418 ounces, a 13% reduction on the previous year;

· Continued focus on operating controls and resource modelling, as well as further key personnel changes throughout Q4 and will continue in 2019; and

· The Group achieved a zero-harm record in Q4 with a Loss Time Injury Frequency Rate ("LTIFR") of 0.00, resulting in an LTIFR of 0.06 per 200,000 man hours worked in 2018.

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Centamin is scheduled to publish its annual results, for the year ending 31 December 2018, on Monday 25 February 2019, at which time the Board of Directors will propose a final dividend for 2018.

The Company will host a conference call to discuss the results with institutional investors and analysts at 11.00 GMT/06.00 EST on the same day. Please find below the required access details: