Centerra Gold (TSX:CG) is a Canadian-based gold mining company focused on operating, developing, exploring, and acquiring gold properties in North America, Asia, and other markets worldwide. The company is one of the largest Western-based gold producers in Central Asia. It owns three operating properties including the Kumtor mine in the Kyrgyz Republic, the Mount Milligan mine in British Columbia, Canada, and the Öksüt mine in Turkey.
Diverse mining assets
The Öksüt mine achieved the first gold pour in January 2020 and declared commercial production in May 2020. The company also owns a pre-development project in British Columbia called the Kemess project. It also owns a molybdenum business, which includes Centerra’s Thompson Creek mine in Idaho, the United States, and the Endako mine in British Columbia.
Further, the company also operates the Langeloth metallurgical processing facility in Pennsylvania, the United States. It also has exploration interests in Canada, the United States, and Turkey, which are owned by Centerra, and properties in Canada, Finland, Turkey, and the United States, in which Centerra has majority or minority interests pursuant to option agreements with the respective property owners.
Realistic business objectives
Centerra has built a team-based culture of excellence that responsibly delivers sustainable value and growth. The company has attracted diverse skilled talent and invested in people through continuous learning and development programs, and created a safe, fair, respectful, and inclusive culture.
Continuous improvements at Centerra’s existing operations are a priority for the company. It evaluates development properties with a view to build and diversify on Centerra’s existing operational platform or divest depending on financial returns and strategic alignment. The company is also focused on exploration efforts at existing operations with an appropriate risk/reward tradeoff and a bias to areas and operations where it has some form of competitive advantage. The company also evaluates merger and acquisition opportunities, focusing in areas and opportunities where it has demonstrated expertise and unique attributes.
Profitable business operations
The company’s principal business operations of gold and copper production span six major stages of the mining cycle, from early stage exploration to mine closure and reclamation. Centerra’s exploration programs are focused on increasing the company’s mineral reserves and resources. These programs include drilling in the immediate vicinity of Centerra’s operating mines to replace mined mineral reserves, drilling programs on advanced stage projects where gold mineralization has been identified, and grassroots exploration on projects where gold or copper mineralization has not been identified.
Robust pipeline of opportunities
Further, Centerra’s exploration and business development teams actively pursue new project opportunities worldwide. If the company’s exploration programs are successful in identifying a mineral resource, the prospects for economic extraction of the resource are then analyzed through a series of technical studies. These include metallurgical studies, scoping studies, environmental studies, mine and processing design, preliminary assessment studies, pre-feasibility studies and feasibility studies.
Once feasibility and permitting are concluded, the company arranges project financing followed by detailed engineering and construction of the mine site and processing facilities. This structured approach is likely to serve shareholders well over the long term.
