News

July 27, 2010

Sumatra Copper & Gold Signs Up Newcrest As An Exploration Partner In Indonesia

By Alastair Ford

The summer slowdown may be imminent, or may indeed already be upon us, but down in Australia, markets are still showing signs of life. There was certainly vibrant activity when Sumatra Copper & Gold announced that it had gone into a joint venture with local Aussie gold champion Newcrest on the development of two Indonesian properties. Around two per cent of Sumatra Copper & Gold’s shares changed hands, an overall total of more than two and a half million, although the buy orders didn’t completely rule the way. One big sell order came out of London, reckons Jocelyn Waller, the company’s managing director, which may explain why, when Sumatra’s shares came back from a temporary suspension the actually dipped by almost 10 per cent to close out Tuesday 27th July at A24.5 cents. The prior week, before the news of the Newcrest tie-in was announced, they’d run up to close on A28 cents from around A20 cents, a significant enough move for the company to request a 48 hour suspension while it finalized the details of its Newcrest news release.

With the deal duly announced, the shares are now back from suspension, and normal service is resumed. What happens next will in large part depend on the results that come out of Sumatra’s two key properties, the 1.6 million ounce Tembang gold project, in which Newcrest has just spent A$500,000 securing an option over a 25 per cent, and the previously worked Tandai project, which is the real focus of the deal. But just to set the scene, it’s worth noting that Jocelyn Waller reckons that...