Newcrest Mining Ltd, (NCM) is not seeing the numbers they want. The company “reported a sharp drop in half-year profit on Friday, hit by a slump in the gold price, and a jump in debt that fuelled concerns Australia’s top gold miner may need to tap investors for money later this year,” reports Reuters.
“Like its global gold peers, Newcrest is emerging from a tough 12 months when bullion prices plunged 28 percent, sparking big losses due to billions of dollars in writedowns on mines. It is now focused on reining in costs, slowing expansion projects, and mining its highest grade ores to boost cash flow.”
“While the underlying result was better than the market had expected, analysts were nervous about a 9 percent rise in net debt to A$4.5 billion since June, which could force the miner to sell new shares later in the year to shore up its balance sheet.”
In metal price news for precious metals…
Japanese palladium bar had the largest decline on Thursday, February 13, dropping 1.4 percent. The price of Chinese palladium bar increased 1.2 percent. The price of US palladium bar was essentially unchanged.
Chinese platinum bar prices inched up 1.0 percent. US platinum bar gained 1.0 percent to finish. Japanese platinum bar saw its price rise 0.5 percent.
After a 1.0 percent increase, Japanese gold bullion finished the day. Chinese gold bullion finished the day up 0.4 percent. Indian gold bullion prices rose 0.3 percent. US gold bullion saw little change in its price yesterday.
Japanese silver closed 0.6 percent lower. The price of Chinese silver finished the market day up 0.4 percent per kilogram. The price of Indian silver remained essentially flat. The price of US silver showed little movement on Thursday.