RBC Capital Markets, the corporate and investment banking arm of Royal Bank of Canada, yesterday hosted its African Gold Conference at The Dorchester Hotel in London. The event gathered leading mining companies operating in the region, as investors look to Africa to identify new growth opportunities following the gold rally of the past year.
Opening the conference, Patrick Meier, Head of European Investment Banking, RBC Capital Markets, said: “RBC Capital Markets maintains the view that strong physical demand from countries such as India and China, combined with the emergence of central banks as net buyers, will support the price of gold in the range of $1,300 to $1,600 for the remainder of 2011. Despite near-term volatility presented by cost-inflation, we believe that the price of gold will further be supported by global macroeconomic events such as the ongoing sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone and low interest rates in the US.
“While gold prices have seen record highs, gold equities remain undervalued. An equities rally in the second half of the year is now a real possibility, thus representing an exciting opportunity for future growth prospects of the African gold miners present here today.”
Greg Hawkins, CEO of African Barrick Gold, a guest speaker at the conference said: “The last year has seen a marked increase in investment in the African gold sector, with considerable levels of interest persisting despite political uncertainty in some parts of the continent. We remain convinced of the significant geological prospects in the region and its potential for growth. This is why we have more than doubled our exploration budget for this year as we develop the potential of our extensive position in Tanzania, as part of our overall strategy for growing our presence in the sector in Africa.”
Brett Richards, CEO of Avocet Mining, who was among the speakers presenting at the conference stated: “For the past 12 months, we have been transforming Avocet Mining into a focused West African gold mining and exploration company, and upon the completion of our South East Asian asset sale, we will emerge focused on growing a larger business in this region. Underpinned by the strong operational and financial performance of the Inata gold mine in Burkina Faso, we have been afforded the opportunity to commit to significant exploration programs in both Burkina Faso and Guinea, so as we can better understand the mineralisation in these immense land packages.”
Also speaking was Aureus Mining’s CEO, David Reading, who said: “Aureus Mining will be the first miner to inaugurate Liberia’s gold mining industry, through fast tracking the development of the New Liberty gold project. Having recently listed on the TSX and on AIM of the LSE, and having raised sufficient capital to finance the early development of this exciting project, Aureus will be ideally positioned to grow rapidly in what is an exciting and new gold province in West Africa.”
Other companies sharing insights at the conference were Great Basin Gold, Gryphon Minerals, Nevsun Resources, Oromin Explorations, Pan African Resources, Semafo, Teranga and Volta Resources.