Gold producers are rushing to take advantage of the price gains this month and raise capital to shore up their balance sheets.
Gold companies in North America, where more than half of the industry is based, have announced or completed at least $808.3 million of stock sales since the start of January, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s already the highest monthly total since October 2013.
While prices dropped today, they’re still up 9.3 percent so far in 2015. Bullion traded in London on Wednesday at more than $1,300 an ounce for the first time since August as stagnating world economies drive demand for haven assets.
On Wednesday, Toronto-based Romarco Minerals Inc. (R) said it agreed to sell C$300 million ($243 million) of shares in a so-called bought deal, in which the underwriters initially buy all the stock being offered.
Earlier the same day, Canada’s Detour Gold Corp. (DGC) agreed to sell C$140.8 million ($114 million) of shares and Montreal-based Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd. (OR) agreed to raise C$200 million. Toronto-based Yamana Gold Inc. (YRI) announced a C$260 million offering last week.
It makes sense that miners would “raise money and replenish the treasury” because stock prices have outpaced the gold price this year, said Kerry Smith, a Toronto-based analyst at Haywood Securities Inc.
Globally, gold companies raised $2.36 billion from equity sales last year, the lowest since 2004, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Gold for immediate delivery in London was down 0.1 percent at $1,294.30 an ounce at 8:37 p.m. local time. The metal declined in 2014 and the year before that, putting pressure on producers, who have faced rising mining costs and declining cash balances.
To contact the reporter on this story: Liezel Hill in Toronto at lhill30@bloomberg.net
