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.

when everything else is in the red we've finally broke through 150p...onward and upward.

looked like 160p today but dropped back a bit at mo.

Must admit a top sliced yesterday.

FC&AA those prices remined me of our AOL days? FC rember the JKX
tip,did very nicely there,always nice to get in early..
cyril

Did anybody find out what happened to Tony Watts ?

AA, i remember he had suspected caner,but no idea what became of him?
cyril

The last i heard he was telling the AOL BB that he was going on a cruise.
That was just before the banks went into freefall, and you remember how he was always on about his banking shares as they had assets & cash and paid good div's.

I've had a new provider for several years so that would have been
after i cganged? Hope he got out in time,or at laest limited losses?
cyril

why is CEY dropping back when the likes of pog and vgm are on the climb. Have to consider selling tomorrow.

glad I top sliced at 1.59 this morning..

CEY up 9.34% in Canada , MML only 2%

http://goldstocksdaily.com/2010/08/08/centamin-egypt-limited/
cyril

Minesite 15/8/2010

Centamin rose by 7p to 167p, as fund managers at Ameriprise picked up a major tranche of shares.

August 16, 2010

Centamin Is Heading For Production Of 500,000 Ounces Per Year By 2012, Supported By A Very Strong Reserve Base
By Charles Wyatt



Its a good day to be writing about Centamin Egypt, for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the price of gold seems to be coming to life again, and is said by analysts as experienced as John Meyer of Fairfax, to be sailing on towards US$1,500 per ounce by Christmas. His reasons are that basic economic uncertainty continues to combine with low interest rates, while demand is high ahead of September, which is usually a good month for gold anyway. Centamin started production last year from its Sukari gold project in the Western Desert of Egypt and has come through the teething period of early production with few setbacks. In the June quarter there was a slight dip in production as the sulphide circuit was being tied in and premature wear was discovered in the SAG mill liners and lifters. A steel liner system has now been ordered and is due to be installed in October. The September quarter has, however, started well, as increased amounts of the higher grade sulphide ore from the Stage 1 pit are now being transported to the process plant, according to executive chairman Josef El-Raghy, speaking from Perth.
Earlier this year Josef made a very shrewd appointment in the shape of Harry Michael as chief executive. You could not have a better man at the helm while a company moves through an ambitious production expansion programme. In Centamins case the aim is to go from 200,000 ounces per year in 2010 to 500,000 ounces per year in 2012. In fact, Harry was responsible for completing the bankable feasibility study on Sukari in 2003 and 2004, but Centamin then went into the doldrums for a while during protracted negotiations with the Egyptian Government, and Harry became chief operating officer of Equinox Minerals where he oversaw the development, commissioning and operation of the Lumwana copper mine in Zambia, one of the largest new copper mines to be developed in recent years. Going further back he was chief executive of AngloGold Ashantis Geita gold mine in Tanzania from 1998 to 2002, where Trevor Schultz, another director of Centamin, was also involved. Geita is one of the largest gold mines in Africa, producing 500,000 ounces of gold per annum, and Harry was responsible for the construction and operation of the mine.

The secret of success in an expansion phase of this calibre is to stay well ahead of the game, and never forget that optimisation is an ongoing necessity. Thus additional dump trucks were acquired in the June quarter and orders placed for more, plus an additional excavator and a front end loader. Two Sandvik cone crushers and screens have also been ordered, to be in place by the time throughput rises from four million tonnes per year to five million tonnes per year. This expansion is due to be complete in the middle of next year. Well before then the decline will have been finished, and higher grade ore from underground will be added to that from the open pit. If all goes to schedule, and there is absolutely no reason to suppose otherwise, Centamin should then be producing at a rate of 300,000 ounces per annum at a cash cost of US$400 per ounce by mid 2011. This compares with US$569 per ounce in the June quarter, but this was the one that had its problems.

Josef makes the point that the initial ore from underground will be considerably higher in grade as the decline is aimed at the high grade Hapi zone. He reminds Minews that back in 2001 a drilling programme was carried out which was aimed at proving up additional measured and indicated resources in the Amun zone and testing for extensions to the new Hapi zone, which lies in the footwall along the western boundary of the Amun main zone. In a note dated 17 September 2001 we reported that visible gold had been present in several of the holes that intercepted this new zone. Some of the best intercepts included 12 metres at 7.5 grammes per tonne, 21 metres at 6.7 grammes per tonne, and a couple of high grade hot spots with three metres at 24 grammes per tonne and two metres at 58.25 grammes per tonne. Josef points out quietly that there was a grade approaching 100 grammes per tonne in hole 169, and he clearly senses the irony in coming full circle like this - now that his company has drilled more than 1,800 holes it will be back in the area where it was drilling nine years ago to start underground mining in about two months time. It will certainly add a sparkle to the two gramme per tonne sulphide ore now being treated although that, in turn, is better than the 1.37 grammes per tonne head grade of the oxide ore pre-treated in the June quarter.

This could make for a very happy Christmas for his shareholders, but Josef is not one to sit back on his oars. Even now a scoping study is underway to determine the optimum processing route for Stage IV, when throughput will rise to between eight million and 10 million tonnes per year, for a targeted production rate of 500,000 ounces. This study should be completed in the current quarter, and will involve additional milling capacity, as well as more water and power and an increased mining fleet. A better handle on the CAPEX requirement will then be available. Its likely is be round US$150 million, according to Josef, but he sees no need to come back to the market for funds. The cost will be spread over a couple of years and Centamin is in a strong financial position with no debt, cash of 25 million as at the end of June, a maiden operating profit of US$19.1 million in the June quarter, and strong cash flow with no hedging.

Meanwhile, exploration continues and the latest resource estimate in June showed a further increase in resources to 10.99 million ounces in the measured and indicated categories, with a further 3.5 million ounces inferred, and a total of 7.1 million ounces in the reserve base. Plenty more years of production at 500,000 ounces per year in that, and it is interesting to note that the increase in resources is more than outpacing ounces mined to date. Josef expects the Egyptian Government to qualify for its 50 per cent of operating surplus by 2014 after all expenses have accrued to Centamin, including OPEX post production, exploration historical and ongoing, and CAPEX, also past and future. It is worth making two points about this. First, the company will pay no tax for the next 30 years, and second the deal has proved to the Government that Centamin is an efficient operator so it should be in pole position for the allocation of any new licences. Josef has always been bullish about the potential for other gold deposits on the Arabian Shield and he will be doing his homework even if he is not ready to make a move as yet. Under his leadership the company knows where it is going, and is now getting there fast.

Aldwik -what happened back in late 2008 to cause the CEY share price to start moving north ? I'ts certainly had a good run but isn't it looking a little overbought ?

Buy CEY...?...ouch ! bad call......not in but could have been...

StockMarketWire.com
"Centamin Egypt has lowered its forecasts for the year and now expects gold production to be in the range of 160,000-170,000 ounces.

It says the reduction in production will have an expected commensurate increase in cash cost per ounce particularly in the current quarter.

However unit costs remain in line with management forecasts and the company remains confident of returning a total cost of around $400 per ounce in the final quarter of 2010.

Chairman Josef El-Raghy said the short term impediments to production performance were being progressively removed or resolved.

El-Raghy added: "Further adjustments to the production plant will be made throughout September, and we believe that the final quarter of 2010 will provide a more accurate demonstration of the normalised run rate of Sukari."

A temporary blip imo,to be expected in such projects? Still on course for 500kozs though,makes for a chance to top up.
cyril

The shares have performed fantastically,especially compared to its' peers,so this coming down to earth a little is only to be expected.

wrong! .... the reason for the fall is not typical consolidation but the result of a quite significant reduction in production forecast

Don't forget the plant was second hand .

i have been locking in profit up to 186p and sold 4% at 167p this morning.