Monsters of Rock: Need to mine gold, head to ... Cambodia?

Emerald Resources posts strong June quarter to hit guidance at Okvau gold mine
Administrators unpack Ten Sixty Four’s Phil-saga
Materials sector falls as gold outperforms

Aussie gold miner Emerald Resources (ASX:EMR) is quietly turning overlooked Cambodia into a gold miner’s paradise, hitting guidance at its Okvau gold mine in the South East Asian nation.

Okvau delivered some 108,866oz for the Simon Lee chaired company, now worth $1.34 billion after a nearly 450% rise over the past five years.

It piled on more than 4.5% today on the back of the promising production update, which showed FY23 output had come in within its 105,000-110,000oz guidance.

That included 27,245oz in the Jun quarter, with sales of 27,897oz at a healthy average price of US$1973/oz.

Morgan Hart led Emerald expects its costs for the final quarter of FY23 and the full year to also fall within its US$740-810/oz all in sustaining cost range.

That would place the mine well within the lowest quartile when it comes to production costs.

You may be wondering why we aren’t seeing everyone flock for new and exotic gold mining jurisdictions like Cambodia?

The mine is the first gold exporter of scale in the country, with EMR boasting 7000kg of output since hitting commercial production there in September 2021.

That’s not to say the grass is always greener in unloved jurisdictions.

Take the case of Ten Sixty Four (ASX:X64) for example, now in the hands of administrators from PwC after appearing to lose control of their Philippines subsidiary Philsaga Mining Corporation, the manager of the Co-O gold mine.

Administrators Martin Ford and Simon Theobold say they have started an analysis of the gold producer’s business and affairs.

It comes after a letter purporting to be from Joseph Mahusay, the president of Philsaga, to X64 shareholders making a series of allegations pointed at the directors of the company who entered after a board spill in June.

“The letter makes a series of allegations. The administrators do not intend to comment on the allegations except that those allegations, and others they are aware of, are being actively investigated as part of the administrators’ investigations into the business and affairs of the Company,” the administrators, appointed on July 2, said in a statement.

Emerald Resources (ASX:EMR) and Ten Sixty Four (ASX:X64) share prices today:

Gold shines as mining investors run for cover

Gold prices climbed as non-farm payrolls missed expectations in the US late last week, delivering a boost to bullion producers ahead of the quarterly reporting season this month.

It calmed fears we could be headed for a stronger and longer pricing cycle if the US Fed can’t get inflation under control, as gold ticked up 0.6% to US$1925/oz in US trade on Friday.

Other precious and base metals were largely positive, though weak iron ore prices, down 2.66% to US$104.85/t in Singapore today, hurt the materials sector, which fell 0.67%.

Among the large caps goldies Northern Star (ASX:NST), Newcrest (ASX:NCM) and Evolution (ASX:EVN) were the top hard rock miners, with Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL) also up more than 5%.

Mid-tier lithium miners meanwhile caught a bid as Patriot Battery Metals (ASX:PMT) headed into a trading halt to respond to rumours Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) was running the ruler over the Canadian explorer.

It’s also headed into the bunker to prepare an assault on a short seller’s report the Ken Brinsden-chaired company claims “contains a number of claims that are wrong and misleading and further contain substantial factual inaccuracies.”