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

cheers GF.

he was asking for your opinion, not your research!

exactly so ...... i know my own view and the reasons for holding it .....
hyleo is 99% negative 120% of the time, so i was trying to determine his view and then whether or not he had married money with mouth

So hold it then... I'm sure you got your views and I've mine.

what a douche

.

ah, so mr hyleo almost certainly does not match money with mouth, as i have always suspected

fwiw, though it should live on the ftse thread, we are seeing a very considerable upturn in chemical shipments ..... the implication is that demand is indeed recovering, though it will take a while for it to start filtering through

RBC summary note:
"Valuation
These are a very substandard set of results and they heighten our concerns about POG gearing and cashflow generation, especially over the longer term if gold prices pull back and mined grades decline to nearer the average Reserve grade.
We downgrade our recommendation from Sector Perform to Underperform and Reduce our target price from 630p to 440p based on unchanged multiples of 1.2 NAV and 7x CF, a discount to the Tier II peer group due to our concerns about high gearing and the technical complexity associated with developing the Pressure Oxidation hub. We retain our Speculative risk qualifier."

Now, now, children. We're all past the kindergarten
stage.
As for POG, quelle surprise!

Half-year figures from Russia-focused mining company Petropavlovsk (POG.L) showing a 90% decline in net profits disappointed investors today, wiping 10% of the share price.

The London-listed group, which has four gold mines in Russia, reported earnings per share (EPS) of just $0.08, compared with $0.57 for the first six months of 2011. ‘This headline disappointment should be viewed against the background that it was caused mainly by non-cash items such as a US$60.8 million increase in depreciation charges and foreign exchange translation losses of US$3.4 million,’ said Peter Hambro, Petropavlovsk chairman, in the company’s statement.

Analysts at Nomura described the results as ‘underwhelming’. They noted that capital expenditure had been higher than expected.

One of the group’s key projects has been its ‘pox’ plant, which has created investor uncertainty.

Gold producer Petropavlovsk's bottom line lost its lustre in the first half of the year as interest payments bit and the group took a bath on its gold option contracts.

Operating profit for the first half of the year fell 38% from $152.4m in the previous year to $93.8m, while profit before tax plunged to $48.8m from $134.4m the year before.

This was despite the firm posting record half-year revenues after increasing its gold sales by seven per cent and benefiting from a 13 per cent rise in the average realised gold price.

The volume of gold sold rose from 268,100 ounces (oz) to 286,100oz, while the average realised gold price per ounce increased from $1,455 to $1,639.

Revenue for the six months to the end of June came in at $546.8m against $475.1m the same period in 2011, a 15% year-on-year (y/y) increase.

There were no sales of silver in the half year period, compared to 115,840oz sold in the first half of 2011 at an average price of $35/oz. The aggregate 168,520oz of silver at refineries and pre-refinery stage as at June 30th are expected to be realised through sales in the second half of the year.

Total underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 10% from $186.2m last year to $204.1m.

Post-tax profit plummeted 90% from $108.2m to just $11.0m this time round, with the group recognising $9.4m of fair value losses on gold option contracts and an increase in net interest expense from $15.8m in 2011 to $34.6m in 2012, reflecting the group's higher net debt position.

More significantly, the group incurred a $60.8m increase in depreciation charges, which the firm said is projected to continue broadly at this level in the future.

Net debt increased from $805.1m to $1,056.1m over the period, a rise of 31%.

And now below 400

It's no surprise.

Petropavlovsk hit by cost of new mines







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Petropavlovsk PLC

POG.L

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By Polina Devitt

MOSCOW | Thu Aug 23, 2012 1:01pm BST

(Reuters) - Petropavlovsk's (POG.L) growing debt pile and a larger-than-expected charge after investments in new mines dragged the Russian-focused producer's net profit down 90 percent in the first half, sending its shares tumbling on Thursday.

Petropavlovsk met operational targets, confirming it will produce 700,000 ounces of gold this year. But its bottom line was battered by non-cash items, including a $106.9 million (67.3 million pounds) depreciation charge, up 132 percent, foreign exchange losses and higher interest payments.





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Net profit fell to just $11 million.

Petropavlovsk, hit by production misses in the past, has battled to counter market worries it will be unable to complete ambitious growth plans that require new facilities to process so-called refractory ores, without overstretching its balance sheet and endangering its ability to repay debt.

Thursday's results, including net debt that has swelled to $1.1 billion and increased stockpiles, revived some of those worries. Refractory ores, difficult to process at reasonable cost, account for about 80 percent of Russia's reserves.

Petropavlovsk's London-listed shares - which had rallied 30 percent since their May lows - were down 14.4 percent at 400.77 pence by 1044 GMT, compared with a 1.4 percent rise in the FTSE 350 Mining index.

Chairman Peter Hambro told Reuters investments the company was making in new mines started to be depreciated as soon as those assets were brought into production.

"So we have a big charge for depreciation as soon as we start to pull tonnes from the ore," Hambro said. "They showed up in the second half of 2011 but the market for some reason ignored that."

Depreciation levels are projected to continue broadly at the same level, Petropavlovsk said. Interest expenses are expected to be slightly higher in the second half of the year, in line with an increase in debt.

The company said it expected increases in production in the second half of 2012 to significantly improve profitability.

It posted record revenue for the first half of 2012 at $546.8 million, up 15 percent year-on-year, thanks to a rise in gold sales volumes and a higher average selling price.

The company invested $262 million in maintenance and development of its gold projects in the first half.

Its total capital expenditure for gold operations, excluding exploration, is expected to be approximately 20 percent higher in 2012 than the company previously guided, Petropavlovsk said.

348p now... support going to break next week.

5 September 2012
Conclusion of Hedging Programme

Petropavlovsk PLC announces that the final 50,000 ounce tranche of its 170,000 ounce gold hedging programme was determined on the basis of the London Gold Market PM Fixing Price on Friday, 31 August 2012. The Company has no further gold hedge transactions outstanding at this time.

The total realised cost of the 170,000 ounce gold hedging programme to Petropavlovsk PLC is US$12.4m, of which US$9.4m was charged to the Income Statement in our recently published half-year results, with the remainder to be reflected in our full-year Income Statement.

Ex-div 3rd Oct '12 (5p)

StockMarketWire.com
"Liberum Capital this morning upgraded the gold producer Petropavlovsk (LON:POG) to "buy" from "hold" despite on-going balance sheet concerns as gold prices continue to rise. Liberum analysts commented: 'Petropavlovsk"s solid operational performance continues to be overshadowed by balance sheet concerns leaving very little headroom for project delays, ubiquitous capex overruns or commodity price corrections. However the gold price is up 7% since we downgraded Petropavlovsk to a hold on balance sheet fears. We now see downside limited by softening concerns over financial covenants in a positive gold pricing environment and upgrade Petropavlovsk to BUY."

Production Report for Q3 2012 and Interim Management Statement

Summary

Q3 gold production of 219,400oz, 39% higher than the previous quarter

9 month gold production of 498,500oz up 11% on the corresponding period in 2011

On track to achieve full year production target of at least 700,000oz of gold

9 month average realised gold price up 4% on the corresponding period in 2011

Total cash costs for the full year are expected to remain in line with H1 2012

Development of the Pressure Oxidation Hub continues to be on schedule

StockMarketWire.com
Petropavlovsk, which holds a majority stake in IRC, has announced the completion of a technology upgrade at its Kuranakh operation.

This has resulted in a 150% increase in IRC's ilmenite capacity and the reaffirmation of the company's targets for 2012 and beyond.

The company has said its 2012 intermediate production target is 125,000 tonnes and will be 160,000 tonnes for 2013 and beyond.

The upgrade has been completed at a cost of just under $3m, within budget and on time.

Sales volumes for ilmenite remain strong.

Back at support, third time since September. Gold spot prospects improving, price target upgrades last week to 800p in one case. Are we due a bounce? Hope so as I've got some and have topped up at this level. Is Mr Market going to give us one more downleg before Xmas rally and easing fiscal cliff worries though?