Gold Mining "Doesn't Work" Below $1000
Thursday, 9/05/2013 17:26
Which miners thrive and which die if the gold price falls again...?
BARRY ALLAN has worked in the mining sector for over 30 years, serving as a gold and precious metals mining analyst with Gordon Capital, BZW and Prudential Bache, joining
Mackie Research's investment banking department in 1998 as a mining specialist and transferring to the research department as a mining analyst in 2001.
Holding a Bachelor of Science degree in geology and a Master of Business Administration from Dalhousie University, Barry Allan recently crunched the data to stress test which junior gold miners would thrive, survive or die at $1000 per ounce gold. His team did the same for junior silver miners with the metal priced at $18 per ounce.
And here, in this interview with
The Gold Report, Barry Allan – now director and vice chairman of Mackie's mining group – offers hope that the gold and silver miner sector, instead of going to hell in a handbasket, actually is rebounding...
The Gold Report: We last talked in April 2012. What has happened in the junior gold and silver mining market since then and where is it headed?
Barry Allan: Defining junior mining as single-mine producers and exploration companies, the sector has been decimated over the last 12 to 18 months. We're still in a period of skepticism and suppressed valuations. That will continue for the balance of 2013 and perhaps into 2014.
However, in spite of this general malaise, the entire sector isn't going to hell in a handbasket. Good companies can still conduct business, raise money and advance their projects. We suspect that in 2014 the market will be a bit more palatable, but not offer a dramatic shift.
TGR: In 1999, you watched the gold price hit a low of $252.80 per ounce and until 2004, struggle to rise above $300 per ounce. How is today's market for precious metals equities different?
Barry Allan: The protracted bear market that led to the bottom of the gold price was a steady grind down from the end of 1997.
That is not the case now. We remain in a bear market, but the price drop has been rather moderate. That is not a very bad gold price environment compared to where we were back then.
There's more optimism, in that gold – the amount of bullion held in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) – remains at a very good level. Bullion has reasserted itself as a legitimate asset class.
TGR: The Federal Open Market Committee meeting showed strong support for tapering quantitative easing due to an improving US economy. Can a steadily growing US economy and a rising gold price coexist?
Barry Allan: It should be entirely possible. One of the big concerns about the future of the bullion price has been what happens in the event of sharply higher interest rates in the US
We expect bullion to show better resilience in this environment because of the emergence of other world economies – China being the primary example, but also India – that have stated the importance of bullion to their currency holdings.
I anticipate that while a higher US interest rate and a stronger Dollar will have an impact, it won't be of the magnitude that it would have been 10 years ago.
TGR: What will be the key price drivers for gold over the next 12 months?
Barry Allan: In North America, real interest rates and the performance of the Dollar will be the drivers.
But the caveat is how the China sovereign entities respond. Their stated goal is to diversify out of currencies and into bullion. If we see this transition of money out of gold ETFs, it is likely to move into the hands of the world's sovereign funds to diversify their currency risks. As a result, we anticipate a more balanced market overall.
TGR: And silver?
Barry Allan: When you correlate silver with gold, you get an R-square of 0.94 over the very long term. Short term, the only thing you can say about silver is that it sometimes lags or overreacts to the gold price. Fundamentally, if you're positive on gold, you should be positive on silver in the short term. By short term, I mean up to six or nine months.
TGR: Will silver's run carry into the fall?
Barry Allan: Most probably, yes. If history repeats itself, as it often does, silver will lag and then overreact. Silver is like a sign-wave around the long-term gold price, but overall the two are very closely aligned. I fully anticipate silver will overreact, then come into line.
TGR: Intierra Raw Metals Group reported that only $2.28 billion in mining finance was received in Q2/13 compared with $6.12bn in Q2/12. Another $5.16bn was raised in Q1/13. How is Q3/13 shaping up?
Barry Allan: The gold price has shown some life; the equities have shown more life than commodities. We fully anticipate that Q4/13 will be better than Q3/13. The current quarter will be consistent with Q2/13. Getting into Q1/14, we anticipate another uptick.
TGR: If you weren't optimistic about the fall and 2014, would you be doing this interview at all?
Barry Allan: Probably not. We've done our analysis and we see some light in bullion. The gold industry doesn't work at a $1000 per ounce gold price. In 2000, the industry didn't work in a below-$275 per ounce gold price environment.
In the shorter term, this is a period of seasonal strength, and the gold price is following a very consistent, seasonal pattern.
Through to Q1/14 we have at least a short-term trade in a market that has been otherwise negative. In the longer term, we are pretty comfortable that we will not be in a sub-$1000 per ounce gold price environment.
TGR: Yet you and your team at Mackie have published a no-nonsense report, evaluating precious metals companies using $1000 per ounce gold and $18 per ounce silver. The report put companies into three categories: Thrive, Survive and Die. What sort of response has the report generated?
Barry Allan: We did the report as a direct response to the investment community. Everyone was concerned about which companies could survive a sharp downturn in the bullion price. We wanted to be succinct, hence the rather dramatic categories and the title, "Thrive, Survive or Die."
We've heard from a number of third-party information distributors, such as Bloomberg, that the report had the highest readership for the week in which it was released. Our own website shows that to be the case. From the investment side, it was well received.
People on the company side were very mindful of what we were saying. We received direct responses from each company in the Survive and the Die categories, recognizing our comments and addressing the issues, explaining what they are doing in response to the questions that the report posed. The companies were reasonably open in recognizing that they have issues and are addressing them.
TGR: It must be nice to be relevant in the conversation.
Barry Allan: No doubt about it. The renewed interest in the investment community compared to 12 months ago is gratifying.
Average investors are severely underweight in gold stocks. They're very sensitive about it; they recognize that gold equities have come off a bottom, and they're concerned about being underweight.
TGR: Let's get to some of those companies starting with the Thrivers. It's a short list.
Barry Allan: It is a short list, and the macro point to be taken from its brevity is that the industry can't stay intact at $1000 per ounce gold and $18 per ounce silver. The industry will need to restructure to be functional in the longer term.
The companies categorized as Thrives will stay intact. Their balance sheets are comparatively strong. They have mines that work at lower commodity prices. They can generate positive free cash flow even after capital expenditures, which means they won't have to shut down mines or defer development expenditures.
TGR: What characterizes a company in your Survivor category?
Barry Allan: The Survivors are companies that will need to make material changes to endure at a $1000 per ounce gold price. That means some hard choices: restructuring the balance sheet, deferring or cancelling development projects and/or closing existing mines that contribute to the production profile.
TGR: Aside from Thrivers, Survivors and the Dead, do you have any wisdom for gold investors looking for a few rays of hope?
Barry Allan: The rays of hope are already evident in the marketplace. While it feels like a bear market in gold and gold equities, it's not. It is has been a fairly aggressive correction, but it's not the doom-and-gloom type of bear market of the past.
The market has accepted physical bullion as a legitimate asset class. While there are some "challenging" gold equities, others have conducted their business well and are in good shape.
Longer term, we will need to see bullion show a positive investment environment in a higher interest rate environment and a higher Dollar environment, but that's a fight we'll take on late next year. For now, we are happy to enjoy seasonal strength.
TGR: Barry, thanks for your time and your insights.
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