ASX-listed gold miners arrive at Diggers & Dealers | Australian Markets

Local gold miners are making the annual pilgrimage to Kalgoorlie whereas carrying piggy banks bursting at the seams.

The Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum begins within the gold heartland on Monday after a report yr for the valuable metallic.

Gold miners had been already flying high at final yr’s Diggers & Dealers and since then bullion’s worth in Australian greenback phrases has surged one other 38 per cent to $5120 an ounce.

ASX-listed producers of the valuable metallic are actually flush with funds — collectively holding more than $7.5 billion of money and bullion at June 30.

How these riches shall be spent, or not spent, is set to dominate dialog among the many 2000-plus attendees at the three-day convention.

“Perhaps they could be used for further acquisitions although prices now paid to obtain such new assets are very high,” Surbiton Associates director Sandra Close stated.

“The concern is that the larger the cash reserves become, the more the company may become a tempting takeover target.”

Dr Close, who has been a gold industry analyst for 3 many years, stated there was “another rather obvious solution”.

“I am sure that shareholders would love to see higher dividends.”

A wave of consolidation has already swept by way of the gold industry over the previous 18 months, with about $9 billion of mergers between Red 5 and Silver Lake Resources, Westgold Resources and Karora Resources, and Ramelius Resources and Spartan Resources.

Gold mines and early-stage developments have additionally been snapped up at a premium left, proper and centre throughout WA.

South Africa’s Gold Fields in May shook fingers with Gruyere mine companion Gold Road Resources to buy its half stake within the Goldfields project for $3.7b in money and shares.

A day previous to this handshake, Northern Star Resources wrapped up its all-stock deal to take control of De Grey Mining and its prized Hemi development within the Pilbara for $6b.

Northern Star has the largest pile of money and bullion amongst miners listed on Australia’s bourse. It held $1.9b at June 30, properly forward of Ramelius in second place at $810m.

Evolution Mining had $760m, Vault Minerals $686m, Greatland Gold $575m and Regis Resources $517m as the opposite native miners with liquid asset balances over half a billion {dollars} by the tip of FY2025.

While gold chiefs are poised to chest-beat at Kalgoorlie’s Goldfields Arts Centre’s lectern, their battery metals counterparts will cut forlorn figures for the second yr in a row.

Some, like IGO’s Ivan Vella, have determined to not entrance.

WA’s once-thriving nickel industry is one mine closure away from full collapse, lithium stays within the doldrums and no native uncommon earth aspect explorers of word had a bumper yr.

Uranium has additionally misplaced its glow. The radioactive commodity grew to become a sizzling matter at final yr’s Diggers & Dealers after former Coalition chief Peter Dutton gatecrashed the convention to spruik his nuclear power coverage.

Mr Dutton’s election failure in May and weakening uranium costs over the previous 12 months have largely killed the hype.

A notable absence at this yr’s discussion board would be the presence of any of the three largest miners within the State — BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue.

Fortescue offered final yr through Kristen Pelc, a company development supervisor, and BHP had a sales space — infamously an empty one after asserting a month previous to the convention that’s sprawling Nickel West arm would into care and upkeep.