High hopes for Brazilian gold miners

Crisis, what crisis? Despite the current low prices of the metals, the low demand, the axed jobs and the delayed investments, the Brazilian gold miners have high hopes for this year: gold was the leading investment in 2008, gaining 32,1% over the year, and the mining companies are deciding to increase their outputs.

A good example is Kinross, which completed last November the expansion of its unit in Paracatu, Minas Gerais, investing US$ 550 million; the plant will reach an output of 17,2 tonnes of gold yearly – about three times the current production. But Kinross is not hoping alone: South African AngloGold Ashanti bought, in late 2008, São Bento Mineração, a former subsidiary of Canada’s Eldorado Gold in an all-stock, US$ 70 million transaction. The main goal of the buyout was to research and develop the Lamego gold complex in the city of Sabará, also in Minas Gerais.

There is also Yamana, recently reported on your Portal do Geólogo, which is expanding its current Brazilian activities and plans to build a new unit in Santaluz, Bahia. These are some of the companies which according to the Brazilian Mining Institute (Ibram), will invest US$ 1,5 billion in the gold mining Brazilian sector until 2011, when the country will produce about 55 tonnes per year.