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Little interest in Harmony's plans Posted: Tue, 02 Dec 2008 [miningmx.com] -- If Harmony hoped that presenting a paper on its projects in Papua-New Guinea - notably the developing Hidden Valley mine -at this month's PNG Mining & Petroleum Investment Conference would stimulate investor interest, it's been disappointed. Most Jo'burg gold analysts haven't even bothered to read it yet. As one said, "In the current state of world markets, there isn't much interest in expansion; investors are more concerned whether existing operations are viable at these levels of demand and prices. "At least in Harmony's case, the two deals it's done in the past year the sale of the Randfontein uranium assets to Pamodzi and the Morobe joint venture in PNG have stabilised the balance sheet and laid a sound basis for the post-Swanepoel era." Another analyst suggests that Harmony's JV partner, Newcrest, paid more than full value for its stake, and has found that Hidden Valley needed more work than it expected. In fairness, though, the capital cost is still in the previous range of around US$600m, and production is still targeted to start in mid-2009. One reason for lack of interest may be that, apart from presenting a broadly rosy picture of both Hidden Valley and the other prospects, of which Wafi-Golpu is the biggest, the presentation adds little if anything to information already available. Click Here
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