The end of the 2015 financial year will come as a relief to many but with nickel and tin around six-year lows and all commodities generally weak, the road ahead is still challenging for miners.
June 30 also marks the end of the quarter, which means quarterly reporting season is approaching once again, with South32 set to unveil its first set of numbers.
Iron ore production and costs will be closely watched, though aside from the slump to $US47.08 per tonne in the opening days of the quarter, the spot price has been far more stable than in the March period.
Atlas Iron will spend the first half of the month trying to secure support for its $A180 million capital raising.
Managing director David Flanagan is on a global roadshow until July 16, while the placement is due to close on July 17.
Flanagan last month acknowledged that the Atlas’ shares are likely to slump when shares resume trading on July 27, but said the company had little choice but to price the raising so low.
“It’s much easier for a 5c company to go to 10c and so on, and that provides a strong return for shareholders,” he told reporters last week in Perth.
“In the absence of these deals, and this capital raising, the consequences for shareholders would have been far worse.”
Fellow iron ore producer BC Iron lightened its debt load on Monday, repaying its $US30.8 million term loan and strengthening its balance sheet.
While iron ore miners have struggled this year, gold producers are powering ahead thanks to a stronger Australian dollar gold price.
Morgans analyst James Wilson said average all-in sustaining cash costs across the Australian gold space dropped from $A1023 per ounce in the December quarter to $996/oz in the March quarter and that trend is likely to continue for June.
It’s also likely that a number of the gold miners, including Northern Star Resources and Regis Resources will update their resources and reserves.
Junior Dacian Gold is also set to update its 850,000 ounce Westralia resource, with Argonaut tipping success in the current program to add up to 500,000oz to the total.
The Rohan Williams-led company, which is being touted as a takeover target, may save the upgrade for the first week of August to coincide with Diggers & Dealers in Kalgoorlie.
Also in the gold space, Evolution Mining will ask shareholders to approve its merger with La Mancha Australia late in the month.
Shareholders are expected to approve the deal, which paves the way for Evolution to complete the acquisition of the Cowal gold mine and become Australia’s second-largest listed gold producer.
Western Areas is likely to close its Cosmos acquisition late this month, but not before tomorrow repaying $125 million in convertible bonds, which will make the company debt-free for the first time in 11 years.
On the exploration front, the market will be eagerly awaiting further results from Sandfire Resources’ and Talisman Mining’ Monty prospect, which is potentially a new copper discovery.
