Master Investor

By Alastair Ford It’s been an interesting 12 months for George Ogilvie. George was appointed chief executive of Kirkland Lake Gold back in December 2013, just as the gold price was bottoming out at US$1,200 per ounce after a precipitous fall from US$1,800. That fall, following repeated delays to the planned expansion programme at the…

By Amy McLellan With the oil price still in free-fall, oil companies are weighing their options carefully as what looked a steal just six weeks ago at US$70 per barrel now looks far less compelling as the price sinks below US$50. As a result, deals are being pulled and projects iced as companies wait for…

By Stewart Dalby When we last wrote about TSX-Venture listed Cub Energy in the middle of November last year we reported that Cub Chairman and CEO Mikhail Afendikov said the company intended to keep “truckin” on in Ukraine, where it is focused, despite concerns about continued operations in that troubled country. At that point the…

By Alastair Ford The Merelani graphite project in Tanzania isn’t exactly new. It was discovered several decades ago on a site not far from the town of Arusha in the north of the country and within sight of Mount Kilimanjiro. But graphite markets have been fickle over the years, and although it was briefly mined,…

Central Asia Metals has continued the strong run of results it initiated in 2012, reporting record annual copper production for the year to December 2014 of 11,136 tonnes. That represents a six per cent increase year-on-year and a significant percentage increase on the nameplate capacity of the company’s Kounrad operation in Kazakhstan, which was originally…

By Stewart Dalby Is there corporate life after death? You might conclude, after the recent experience of ASX and AIM-listed Tangiers Petroleum, that there is. I exaggerate. Tangiers did not die, but following the news last August that the Tao-1 exploration well on the Tarfaya block offshore Morocco was a duster, the company was in…

By Amy McLellan News that the President of Cameroon has at last inked a transformational farm-out of the Etinde permit in Cameroon means shareholders in Bowleven will be able to breathe a little easier. It has been an anxious wait for the President to sign-off on this document, which transfers a 50 per cent slug…

By Alastair Ford Contrary to popular belief, not all Chinese investors have an endless supply of US dollars. Sure, the great parastatals do, and their investments are dictated largely by policy and the necessity of securing supply. But further down the food chain, things are a little different. And it’s further down the food chain…

By Martin Clark Canadian junior Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas is advancing its Namibian projects nicely, after a year of progress in the field and in the boardroom. The company, which is listed on the TSX Venture market, holds four petroleum licenses in the south-west African country, three offshore in the Walvis Basin area, and…

By Our Man in Oz Minews. Good morning Australia, your gold stocks seem to have had a good week. Oz. It’s more a case of a good two weeks to best see the recent performance of ASX-listed gold producers with last week’s 11.9 per cent rise in the gold index coming on top of a…