http://www.kitco.com/charts/livegold.html

cheers GF.

Petropavlovsk agrees $60m iron ore business investment
StockMarketWire.com
Mining group Petropavlovsk has agreed terms for a $60m equity investment in its non-precious metals division by Hong Kong-based investors.

The group had been evaluating funding options for its iron ore projects. It says the investment will value its non-precious metals division at $860m.

Petropavlovsk is also exploring strategic options including a possible listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

The investors are Asia Resources Fund, a subsidiary of General Enterprise Management Services (GEMS), and CEF Holdings. They will invest $50m and $10m respectively in return for an equity stake in a new holding company for the division.

Chairman Peter Hambro said, 'We are extremely pleased to have GEMS and CEF committing capital to our non-precious metals business, and their participation in our growth story is testimony to the underlying confidence in the opportunities in the iron ore market in China.

'Our potentially world-class iron ore business is focused on the nearby Chinese market with considerable economic advantages in both geography and transport costs over most other major iron ore suppliers to the Chinese market - we are c.19,000km closer to China than our Brazilian competitors.

'We believe that these developments are significant steps in delivering the value of the non-gold assets of Petropavlovsk.'

Petropavlovsk also says advanced debt finance discussions to fund stage 1 of its Kimkano-Sutarskiy iron-ore mining operation are progressing well with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Sinosure, the Chinese state export credit agency.

The first iron-ore operation, Kuranakh, is ramping up following successful plant commissioning in May.

Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

Gold 1240 +

Rumoured to be valued highly enough to go in to the FTSE 100 on wed.

And with the gold price again at $1247. which is equal to its' all time high of a few months ago, should auger well

looks like going to miss out on promotion again....BNZL is 90th place at the mo..

Yes ,but there are 100,not 90

Questor share-tips: Petropavlovsk is a buy
Monday was another one of negative sentiment in the market, as sovereign debt concerns combined with worries over growth in the healthier economies. Fears of a double-dip recession are growing.

By Garry White, Questor Editor
Published: 6:15AM BST 08 Jun 2010

Questor continues to believe that investors should place money in the markets on a regular basis. Quality companies with good prospects especially ones with high dividend yields should prove great investments over the medium term.

Another good investment especially at times when fear is driving the markets is gold. The price, however, is hovering close to all-time highs and this will make some investors nervous. Because of this, Questor feels that gold companies trading on lower earnings multiples are the best way to play the sector at the moment.



Questor: Hochschild will shine from silver exposureFTSE 100 company Randgold Resources is the largest pure-gold, blue-chip play. It is trading on a December 2010 earnings multiple of 43.4 times. This means the shares would be highly vulnerable to any pull back in the price of the metal.

However, Petropavlovsk formerly Peter Hambro Mining is trading on a current-year multiple of just 11.2 times, reflecting the perceived market risk of investing in Russia. But, as Questor noted in March, the company is also a play on iron ore and there was some good news on this front yesterday.

The iron-ore assets were originally spun off as Aricom in 2003, but the implosion in financial markets and in particular the mining sector after the credit crisis caused the shares to crash and the company was bought back into the group. Ultimately, this unit is expected to be spun off in Hong Kong, but climate for new issues is negative at the moment, so this is unlikely to be imminent.

The good news yesterday was that some serious Asian investors have bought into the first phase of Petropavlovsk's iron ore developments. Two Hong Kong-based funds will invest $60m (41.3m) in the initial stage of the iron-ore of the project Asia Resources Fund will put in $50m and CEF Holdings $10m. This first phase is expected to require $400m of investment in total. In March, the company secured debt financing from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China for up to 85pc of the first phase. The two funds that bought in yesterday secured the remaining 15pc.

Petropavlovsk says the investments value its equity in the non-precious metals division at $860m. This is less than the $1.5bn valuation of the operations mooted by some, but it still implies the iron ore unit is worth about $3.30 per Petropavlovsk share. This looks sensible at this stage of development and given the market backdrop. This $1.5bn valuation could be eventually be proved correct.

There is also a slight chance that Petropavlovsk will enter the FTSE 100 when the index reshuffle is unveiled later this week. However, Questor suspects that the company will miss out on promotion by a whisker again.

A company has to have a market capitalisation equivalent to the business at number 90 in the FTSE All-Share index for inclusion as a blue chip. According to analysis by City broker Fairfax, Petropavlovsk was at number 91 yesterday morning so, if gold prices hold up, the company is a real contender for inclusion later in the year.

The shares were first recommended as a buy on July 21 last year at 626.2p and they are now 96pc ahead compared with a market up 14pc.

There is no doubt that the shares will be volatile, but over the medium term the value in this business should be reflected in its share price, so Questor maintains a buy on the shares.

A new record gold price today of $1256 certainly boosting the sector

I believe that the revaluation of the Chinese yuan is bound to be very positive for POG., What with being right on China's doorstep.

POG is still primarily a gold producer, which is thus of little relevance to the chinese, though POG's iron ore and titanium sponge certainly have appeal

I don't know about that. Gold is a copmmodity, and they are one of the sectors thought to benefit most from the revaluation of the yuan. Having said that,it has fallen back sharply today.(the gold price that is.)

All the same POG doing very nicely thank you..

just bought back in at 1258 as possibly bouncing off 25 dma

Which,as coincidence would have it,the days' high for the gold price!

your bounce cynic......tripped up.,.

It happens to the best of us old boy.

me more than most...lol

not hugely, and it's a company i like in a sector i like .... also bought back at a fair bit less than i sold

still in at 10.67p so remain in profit.

well you know me .... i tend to trade, though rarely on a day basis ..... i haven't bothered to look, but i too must be well in profit on this stock too

btw, that was a great ride down to b-on-a .... and very glad i didn't pay the bill at the harrow at little bedwyn - my m8 owed me as i paid for 4 of us last time; we demolished that debt between the 2 of us - oink, oink!