habe hier noch einen Artikel der deine Sorge etwas untermauert.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/opinion/post/-/.../post/98/comment/1
Focus Minerals has paid a price for its $59 million scrip takeover of struggler Crescent Gold after admitting it had diverted funds earmarked to improve its mainstay Coolgardie mines to "securing" the acquisition.
The admission came in Focus' September quarterly, released on Friday and the first such report since taking control of Crescent. Crescent's quarterly was released on Thursday.
Focus did not reveal how much cash it had shifted from Coolgardie to Crescent but it was money destined to fund the production ramp-up of The Mount underground and Tindals open pit mines.
So while its Coolgardie operations achieved record gold output of 24,319 ounces in the September quarter courtesy of production from the new mines, the slower-than-planned ramp-up will curtail full-year production to a below-budget 85,000oz. The 100,000oz a year run rate will not be achieved until this quarter, which explains why Focus' target from mid-year (when it launched the Crescent bid) to produce 130,000oz from Coolgardie in 2012 is no longer mentioned.
Cash costs at Coolgardie remain high at $944/oz in the September quarter, compared with $981/oz in the June quarter.
Focus has been spending the past two years trying to finetune its operations (including replacing contractors at some operations with its own staff) and bringing on new sources of production (The Mount, Tindals open pit) to increase volume and improve the grade of ore being processed at its Three Mile Hill mill.
It is yet to enjoy the fruits of its labour and the diversion of funds from Coolgardie to Crescent has been no help in the short term.
Gold, priced at $1629/oz, remains near all-time highs offering high-cost producers like Focus some forgiveness.
But Crescent is a different story.
Crescent refuses to reveal cash costs at its Laverton operations, which comprise mining at several open pits and ore processing at Barrick Gold's nearby Granny Smith plant. Rough calculations suggest that Crescent's production costs have approached $1400/oz in the past year.
In the three months to September 30, Crescent met market guidance with output of 21,915oz and achieved an average sales price of $1660/oz. Its cash-(flow statement said Crescent had net operating cash outflows of $7.3 million and only increased its quarter-on-quarter cash balance by $16,000 courtesy of an ($8 million loan from Focus.
The rub for Focus is how it plans to account for the 81.6 per cent-owned Crescent in its quarterly and financial reports. Should it add the Laverton cash costs to Coolgardie's numbers for an overall Focus figure (which, on past form, won't be pretty), or does Focus simply strip out Crescent's numbers in an attempt to show investors that efforts at Coolgardie are finally working?
Focus had $11.3 million cash at September 30, its mines remain profitable and it has consistently said it can slash Crescent's operating costs.
Shareholders will be hoping that is indeed the case because Focus has little cash to spare on its new acquisition.
It was anticipated that Focus would tap equity markets post-Crescent takeover to fund a capital works program to deliver a more palatable cost base.
Focus shares are trading at 6.2¢, so the raising may be while off.
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