From Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec (10:15 am eastern time):
Gold is firmer this morning, up $6 an ounce to $1,224…the Dow opened marginally lower on some unexpectedly poor U.S. retail numbers but is now recovering and threatening to go into positive territory…the CDNX ended a 7-session slide yesterday with an 8-point gain on low volume…as of 10:15 am eastern time, the Index is up 3 more points to 1456…Seafield Resources (SFF, TSX-V) has completed an over-subscribed private placement, raising nearly $3 million…with almost $5 million now in its treasury and a major drill program set to begin at its gold properties in the Quinchia District of Colombia, we expect Seafield will be a strong performer over the summer…technically, the stock has extremely strong support at current levels and the next major move should be up…Seafield is currently ahead half a penny to 17.5 cents…Kent Exploration (KEX, TSX-V) came out with news this morning, announcing a proposed private placement at 10 cents to raise up to $600,000…this is exactly what Kent needed to do though in retrospect it would have been wiser to raise money at higher prices when they had a chance earlier this year or late last year…not surprisingly, the Australian government’s proposed “super tax” on producing mining companies is having a very negative impact on the mining and exploration sector in that country…for the time being Kent is better off focusing on its Alexander River Gold Property in New Zealand and its barite project in Washington State which has the potential of generating considerable cash flow for the company this year…Kent is up half a penny to 11.5 cents…Kent got heavily oversold over the last two weeks and appears to have finally bottomed out at 10.5 cents which interestingly filled a gap going back to last October…Gold Bullion Development (GBB, TSX-V) is up another penny this morning to 49.5 cents…
Kent Exploration
Super tax – to be a lot less super?
Shares of global mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto jumped on Thursday after an Australian newspaper reported that favourable changes may be coming to Australia’s proposed mining super tax. Australia’s Herald Sun said on its web site that the “core change” would be to make the proposed tax more like the existing Petroleum Resource Rent Tax. Under pressure from the mining industry and from within, the Australian government is set to reveal in the next few days “major changes” to the 40% mining super tax, reportedly raising the level at which the tax is levied from 6% to more than 10% of profits from projects. According to the Herald, the changes will go some way to meeting the general objections of the mining industry, and are specifically aimed at helping coal seam gas projects in the key battlefield state of Queensland, where the coming federal election will be won or lost. The proposed super tax, which would be retrospective on all mining projects, has prompted all major miners to put expansion plans on hold. Tom Albanese, Rio Tinto’s chief executive, has said that Australia was now his number one country for sovereign risk.
Canaccord wealth management
This publication is a general market commentary and does not constitute a research report. Any reference to a research report or a recommendation is not intended to represent the whole report and is not itself a research report or recommendation. This commentary is for informational purposes only and does not contain investment advice. This publication may be wholly or partially based on industry rumour, gossip and innuendo and as such is not to be relied upon as investment advice.
Comment by Tom Perry — June 11, 2010 @ 12:23 pm
Kent Exploration has several projects as we all know who follow the company. The stock seems like it has gone down too far considering many of these are outside of Australia. I see the financing as neutral. I like that they are moving forward with raising over a half million, but at the same time it is at a lower share price. I wanted to buy more shares today, but did not have enough money on the sideline to do so. Maybe next week.
Comment by Michael — June 11, 2010 @ 3:15 pm