It’s been a busy week in miners as Harmony Gold revised guidance leading to a drop in share price, Perseus announced yet another acquisition of Predictive and silver mining supply continues to fail to meet demand.
Harmony Gold shares drop
South African miner Harmony Gold’s shares dropped last week after announcing a lower-than-expected dividend payout and revised guidance to be more conservative. The shares tumbled about 9% last week, beginning trading on Monday at 9.65 and falling to 8.80 by the end of the day Friday.
The miner reported a larger net profit and revenue for the previous fiscal year, citing higher gold prices and increased ore quality.
The company also announced an increase in capital expenditure guidance from $445 million to $592 million.
“We remain conservative in our planning assumptions,” CEO Peter Steenkamp said.
Perseus buys shares of Predictive
Australian mining company Perseus announced last week it is increasing its interest in issued shares of Predictive to 19.9%.
Perseus previously held a 13.8% stake in the Blackrock-backed operation, which it announced about a month prior.
The Australian company said it had no intentions of acquiring control or making a takeover bid for Predictive.
Predictive owns a pre-development site in Guinea, West Australia.
Mining supply can’t meet silver demand
Global silver supply has flat-lined, yet explosive growth in demand has caused supply chain issues, according to a recent report from Mining.com.
The white metal is at the center of a global clean-energy transition and is used heavily in solar cell and electric vehicle creation.
The Silver Institute forecasts industrial applications will drive 58.3% of the world’s 1.2 billion ounces of demand. Also, given the flat supply growth, it’s clear that production is hitting a notable top.
Silver demand for industrial uses previously accounted for about half of global use, however that percentage has now jumped to 64%, a 19% increase from last year.
The World Silver Survey has reported a silver shortage in each of the past five years.