Placer Dome

South Deep reserves in doubt August 29, 2005 By Stewart Bailey and Antony Sguazzin Johannesburg - Total reserves at South Deep mine, the world's biggest gold deposit, might be 18 percent smaller than expected, Western Areas, a partner in the venture with Vancouver-based Placer Dome, has said. http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=2855265

Time to buy commodity producers Commentary: Stick with energy; add gold hxxp://www.marketwatch.com/news/yhoo/story.asp?source=blq/yhoo&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo&guid=%7B0ACF134D%2D85EA%2D4D9C%2DAB10%2D7B130020EC84%7D By Ron Rowland, All Star Fund Trader Last Update: 11:42 AM ET Oct. 5, 2004 AUSTIN (ASFT) -- With the broad stock indexes trapped in trading ranges for months now, the action has been in the sectors. But which sectors? With commodity-oriented stocks, you still get leveraged exposure to the underlying material. For example, on September 28 spot gold went up from $409.10 to $412.50, a 0.8 percent increase. That same day, gold stock Placer Dome (PDG: news, chart, profile) gained 4.1 percent.

Placer Dome reported second quarter results of $0.08 per share on gold production of 908,000 ounces at a cash cost of $229 per ounce. For this year, Placer Dome is in line to produce 3.6 million ounces of gold and 400 million pounds of copper at a cash cost $230 per ounce. Like other senior producers, Placer's problem is the replacement of reserves. Development work at Getchell's Turquoise Ridge is slower than the company expected. South Deep in South Africa continues to be a disappointment producing only 51,000 ounces at a cash cost of $399 per ounce. South Deep remains an albatross for Placer and the South African rand is going the wrong way. Noteworthy is that until the shaft is deepened there will be no impact on production which is a problem since the bulk of Placer's reserves are in South Africa. On a positive note, however, Placer released an update on Cortez Hills in Nevada, which could be a company maker. Placer boosted reserves at Cortez Hills from 3.2 million ounces to 4.5 million ounces and the company expects to complete a feasibility study by year-end. The Cortez Hill discovery is close to the Pipeline facility and this high-grade deposit can be brought on stream fairly quickly. As of June 30th, 94 holes were completed with assays received from 72 holes. So far the high-grade zone is open to the west and down depth and the company has yet to define the limits of this discovery. Of interest is that there is a possibility that this deposit can link up with nearby Pediment, which would add to the reserve picture. While it is still early days, we believe Cortez could add about $2.00 per share to Placer's NAV. At Pueblo Viejo in the Dominican Republic, Placer also gave clarity to its program. Pueblo Viejo is a refractory deposit and the company expects to produce a prefeasibilty study by the end of this year. Placer like Barrick has reduced its hedges but the company still has almost 10 million ounces under hedge, which is three years of production hedged - too high. The mark-to-market loss is $307 million. With the exciting Cortez Hills discovery and the prospect of bringing Pueblo Viejo on stream, Placer has offset the difficulties in South Africa and we recommend the shares at current levels. hxxp://www.safehaven.com/article-1870.htm