Gold Mining and production companies have performed well in the last quarter on account of adverse economic and political news. Be it's the rising oil prices, trade war-like situation between China and the United States, slowing down of the Chinese economy or the outbreak of the Coronavirus, each one of these events has had a defined impact on the world economy and the world capital markets as a consequence. The importance of Gold thus as an alternative safe repository of wealth has not been so high before.
Below are five of the most active Gold mining and production companies listed on the London Stock Exchange since the beginning of 2020 in terms of percentage gain in prices change since the start of 2020 to the close of business as on 13th February 2020 (YTD), arranged from the highest to the lowest.
- Greatland Gold PLC (LON:GGP) â The stock of Greatland Gold PLC has given a price return of 160.0 per cent (YTD) since the beginning of 2020, which is the highest amongst the Gold producing companies traded on the London Stock Exchange during the period.
The company on 4 February 2020 came out with an update on the maiden drilling campaign results carried out by it on its Warrentinna project in Tasmania, Australia. Three holes were drilled on the area, with the grades yielded as below.
    Hole - 2019WTD001- contains 21.7m @ 3.3g/t Au from 9.3m which included 2.2m @ 12g/t Au from 10.8m
     Hole - 2019WTD002 â containing 11.7m @ 2.8g/t Au from 115m, which is a new zone of gold mineralisation beneath previous drilling.
     Hole - 2019WTD003 â This hole contains 43m @ 1.5g/t Au from 10m
The company expects these results to help it disinvest from this project
Greatland Gold Plc (GGP) is a mining company focusing mainly on the exploration of Gold in Western Australia and Tasmania. The company had divided its operations based on geographies in which it operates, which include Australia and the UK. The company has been working on five projects which include Warrentinna project, Firetower project, Bromus project, Ernest Giles project and Havieron project.
- Petropavlovsk Plc (LON:POG) â The stock of Petropavlovsk Plc generated the second largest in terms of price return among our list of Gold producing companies on the London Stock Exchange since the beginning of 2020. The price return generated by the stock was 07 per cent during the period (YTD).
The company on 5 February 2020 came out with an update on the resignation of Non-Executive Director, Mirzaaziz Musakhanov from the company. Mr Musakhanov was a nominee director on the company board from Aeon Mining Limited, who were the largest shareholders in Petropavlovsk plc, but Aeon Mining Limited has recently sold off all its holdings in Petropavlovsk Plc which has led to the resignation of Mr Musakhanov.
Petropavlovsk Plc is a LSE-listed Russian gold mining company with operations in the Far East of Russia, and in terms of production, reserves and resources, it is one of the major gold mining companies in Russia.
- Centamin PLC (LON:CEY) â The stock of Centamin PLC generated a return of 7.4 per cent in price return (YTD) since the beginning of 2020 on the London Stock Exchange. The price return generated is the third highest in our list of Gold companies listed on the Exchange.
The company on 30 January 2020 came out with a trading update on the quarterly report for the period ending on 31 December 2019. The company for the period generated a revenue of US$204.1 million from the sale of 137,065 ounces of gold at an average price of US$1,487 per ounce
Centamin Plc (CEY) is a United Kingdom- registered gold mining company that specializes in exploration and development of minerals. The company is having a dual listing and is listed on stock exchanges in London and Toronto. The company owns Sukari Gold Mine in Egypt with a current production capacity of c. 500,000 ounces per annum.
- Polymetal International plc (LON:POLY) â The stock of Polymetal International plc has given a return of 5.95 per cent in price return (YTD) since the beginning of 2020, which is the fourth highest amongst the Gold producing companies on our list, traded on the London Stock Exchange during the period.
The company on 12 February 2020 came out with an update on the increase of the resource estimate at its JORC-compliant open-pit ore reserve. As per a new estimate, the reserves in the mine as on 1 October 2019 stand at 8.4 Mt at an average grade of 3.0 grams per ton containing 812 Koz of Gold.
Polymetal International PLC (POLY) is a Cyprus headquartered leading gold and silver producer with a high-quality, low-cost asset base, and operations in Kazakhstan and Russia. Along with a pipeline of future growth projects, the company has a portfolio of nine producing gold and silver mines and is the 2nd largest in Russia for gold production with the group currently having five reportable segments namely Magadan, Ural, Kazakhstan, Khabarovsk and Armenia. Currently, the group is a member of the FTSE 350 index on the London Stock Exchange and it is listed on Moscow Stock Exchange as well.
- Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES) â The stock of Fresnillo PLC generated the fifth largest returns in terms of price return among all Gold producing companies on our list from the London Stock Exchange since the beginning of 2020. The price return generated by the company was 27 per cent during the period (YTD).
On 29 January 2020, the company came out with an update on its production volumes for the fourth quarter of 2019. The gold production for the quarter stood at 233.7 koz, which is an increase of 11.4 per cent over the third quarter of 2019.
Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES) is a Mexico-based leading precious metals company. The company is around 500-year-old precious metals company. The company produces mainly Gold and silver from mines. It develops projects into metals mines. The group only became a listed company in 2008. It is listed on the Mexican Bolsa and London Stock Exchange. The company has seven operating mines, two development projects and three exploration prospects.