Australia
Money begins to flow towards the gold mining juniors in a big way, as a new round of corporate activity looms
As gold hit an intra-day high of over US$1,980 this week, a record in US dollar terms, gold mining companies reaped the benefits.
Among the better performers benefitting from golds recent run have been Anglogold (NYSE:AU), up by 75% over the past six months, Newmont Corporation (NYSE:NEM), up by more than 50%, Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC), up by almost 80%, and of course Barrick, which has risen by slightly less than 50% over the past six months.
One reason for the relative underperformance of Barrick and Newmont is that both are still digesting recent hefty acquisitions – in Barricks case it acquired Londons gold champion Randgold last year, while Newmont is still absorbing the recent acquisition of Goldcorp, completed earlier in 2019.
Will there be more corporate action? – you can bet on it.
Certain participants in the gold mining industry, for example Artem Volynets of Chaarat Gold Holdings PLC (LON:CGH), have been predicting a round of consolidation in the gold space for..

As gold hit an intra-day high of over US$1,980 this week, a record in US dollar terms, gold mining companies reaped the benefits.
Among the better performers benefitting from golds recent run have been Anglogold (NYSE:AU), up by 75% over the past six months, Newmont Corporation (NYSE:NEM), up by more than 50%, Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC), up by almost 80%, and of course Barrick, which has risen by slightly less than 50% over the past six months.
One reason for the relative underperformance of Barrick and Newmont is that both are still digesting recent hefty acquisitions – in Barricks case it acquired Londons gold champion Randgold last year, while Newmont is still absorbing the recent acquisition of Goldcorp, completed earlier in 2019.
Will there be more corporate action? – you can bet on it.
Certain participants in the gold mining industry, for example Artem Volynets of Chaarat Gold Holdings PLC (LON:CGH), have been predicting a round of consolidation in the gold space for some time. In Chaarats case, the talk has been turned into action, as it has acquired new projects and production in its geographical area of expertise, Central Asia.
But, whereas much of the action has to date been at a fairly high level, there are signs now that the activity spurred by US$1,900 gold might start to trickle down to the most junior end of the market. In recent days weve seen Anglo Asian Mining (LON:AAZ) tie up a deal with Conroy Gold and Natural Resources PLC (LON:CGNR) which is likely to result in rapid progress on potential targets amounting to 8.8mln ounces of gold in Ireland.
It's a simple enough equation, whichever way you come at it. The producing companies, which tend to have fixed costs overall, and which lately have also been enjoying the benefits of reduced fuel costs, are now enjoying much larger margin because of the higher gold price.
That in turn means greater cashflow, which means theres more money available for development pipelines, whether thats in existing projects or new dealflow.
None of this will be new to Australians, who have been enjoying record gold prices in Aussie dollar terms for some time now, and a local mining boom to boot. Companies have been swarming over the Paterson Range for example, in Western Australia, as well as to the east of the country in Victoria and New South Wales.
Here, junior companies like ECR Minerals (LON:ECR) and Greatland Gold (LON:GGP) are beginning to pick up traction as the majors cast their eyes our for the next big discovery. Greatland has been in business with Australias champion Newcrest for some time now, and the positive results from its Havieron project just keep on coming.
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Australia
Australia election: Why is Australia’s parliament so white?

Australia
Scott Morrison effectively ditches his promise to establish a federal anti-corruption commission

Scott Morrison has effectively abandoned his promise to establish a federal anti-corruption watchdog, confirming he would only proceed with legislation in the new parliament if Labor agreed to pass the Coalition’s heavily criticised proposal without amendments.
Morrison pledged before the 2019 election to legislate a federal integrity body in the parliamentary term that has just ended. The prime minister broke that promise, failing to introduce his own proposal before the 46th parliament was prorogued.
On the hustings on Wednesday, Morrison was asked – given his previous undertaking to create the body – whether he would promise to put his proposal to a vote in the next parliament in the event the Coalition won the 21 May election.
Morrison declined to make that promise. “Our position on this hasn’t changed,” the prime minister said. “Our view has been the same – when the Labor party is prepared to support that legislation in that form, then we will proceed with it.”
The prime minister has attempted to inoculate himself from criticism about breaking an election promise by saying he tabled the integrity commission proposal in the parliament.
Tabling an exposure draft, which is what the prime minister did, is not the same as introducing finished legislation to the House of Representatives or the Senate that is then debated and voted on.
As well as repeatedly fudging what happened in parliament, Morrison has also created the impression the proposal can only proceed if Labor agrees to its passage without amendments.
All governments routinely introduce legislation for debate without any undertaking that it will be passed by the opposition. Labor favours a stronger model than the Coalition’s proposal.
Morrison’s lack of urgency on the issue created tensions within government ranks. Late last year, the Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer crossed the floor to support independent MP Helen Haines’ bill to establish a federal integrity commission. Archer accused the government of “inertia” over the issue.
At that time, Archer said she was “perplexed” at her own government’s failure to release a revised bill almost three years after it was promised before the last election.
While Morrison clearly wants to move on from the issue, he will face renewed pressure from crossbench independents if the coming election is close enough to deliver a hung parliament.
A number of independents running against Liberals in metropolitan seats have made it clear that establishing a credible national integrity commission will be a key demand in the event any new government – Liberal or Labor – is seeking agreements for confidence and supply.
Haines blasted Morrison’s comments on Wednesday. “Mr Morrison broke an election promise to introduce an anti-corruption commission and his pathway to creating one is still as vague as it was in the last parliament,” she said.
The crossbench independent said it was “nonsense” for the prime minister to claim that he could not proceed unless Labor agreed with the Coalition’s proposal without seeking any amendments. “It would appear we are in the same void as we were before,” Haines said.
Australia
Chinese healer Hong Chi Xiao has manslaughter charge overturned and will face new trial

A western Sydney “slapping therapy” practitioner who was found guilty of the manslaughter of a six-year-old diabetic boy and sentenced to 10 years in prison has had his conviction overturned and will face another trial.
Hong Chi Xiao appeared in Sydney’s Court of Criminal Appeal on Wednesday.
Mr Xiao was extradited from London to Sydney in 2017 to face charges more than two years after the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, died following a series of workshops held in Hurstville in April 2015.
The boy’s parents attended the conference where the self-proclaimed Chinese healer showed a “disdain for Western medicine”.
Mr Xiao allegedly advised the parents to stop their son’s insulin injections and blood glucose tests.
A Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) investigation found that Mr Xiao told the boy’s parents that slapping therapy “could heal all diseases, including diabetes, and that no medication was required because insulin could be generated” through the treatment.
He also allegedly recommended the six-year-old boy stop eating for three days and only drink water or a “ginger date drink”.
Slapping therapy, also known as paida lajin, advocates the slapping of skin to release toxins from patients.
The boy became visibly ill over several days and began vomiting a black substance, but Mr Xiao allegedly told the boy’s mother that his body was adjusting to the “self-healing process”.
He began having seizures and was rushed to St George Hospital, where he died.
The NSW Coroner found the treatment directly caused the boy’s death on April 27, 2015.
A District Court jury found Mr Xiao guilty of manslaughter for breaching the duty of care he owed the six-year-old boy through gross negligence.
He was handed a sentence of 10 years with a non-parole period of 7½ years in December 2019.
District Court Judge Garry Neilson said Mr Xiao showed “no signs of true remorse”.
Mr Xiao launched an appeal against his conviction, claiming inconsistencies in the evidence and that Judge Neilson told the jury that there was “no defence” during the trial.
Tim Game SC told the court that Judge Neilson did not summarise the defence case and did not give enough evidence to the jury to make a sound decision.
After a short adjournment, Justice Derek Price, Justice Ian Harrison and Justice Mark Ierace granted the appeal and quashed Mr Xiao’s conviction.
However, he will have to face a fresh trial in front of a new jury.
Mr Xiao will face the Sydney District Court on March 11 for mention.
He has been permanently banned from practising medicine by the HCCC.
The boy’s mother, father and grandmother were also initially charged over his death, but they were found not guilty and acquitted.
Mr Xiao has been in prison since his arrest in 2017 but has long rejected criticism that his techniques endanger lives.
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