The stars are starting to line up for SGR..... New gold zones, more high grade at depth, new development, more resource oz proving up every day.... all in a mining friendly low risk country..... SGR has cheap long term power, a cost others are having to respond to.

Couple this with the Cnd dollar moving down, and we have the perfect storm to move SGR into new teritory. The US investor should be flocking into SGR .... JMHO

This is interesting about Australia and production costs etc:

AngloGold’s Cutifani reckons Australia's carbon tax a serious problem for gold producers

AngloGold Ashanti’s chief executive Mark Cutifani, who learned a large part of his mining and corporate skills in Kalgoorlie, told the final day of Diggers & Dealers that Australia’s gold industry must have its voice heard on the Federal Government’s proposed carbon trading taxation.

Author: Ross Louthean
Posted: Wednesday , 06 Aug 2008

KALGOORLIE -

An introduced carbon taxation by the Rudd Federal Government could cost AngloGold $A26 million per annum on its Australian operations and may put into question the big Tropicana gold project in the far east of Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields - earmarked to commission in 2011-12.

AngloGold's Australian chief Graham Ehm said the carbon tax could add between $US40-50/oz to operating costs at Tropicana.

Chief Executive, Mark Cutifani, told a media conference at Diggers & Dealers that there is a serious need for the Australian industry to get the message across that it already has serious economic issues that have seen the nation's gold output decline 20% in recent years.

He said it was fortunate the big Canberra-based lobby Minerals Council of Australia now had big Australian miner Newcrest Mining's CEO Ian Smith as president. AngloGold was in dialogue with him over the issue.

Cutifani said it was important to look after the environment but the carbon tax proposal was only going to penalise Australian industry because no other major mining nations were doing the same. If there are to be penalties then there also needed to be counterbalancing incentives from government.

Tropicana is a vast project that now has a resource of 4.05 million ounces at a grade of 2.01 grams/tonne and is 70% owned by AngloGold in joint venture with Independence Group NL (ASX: IGO).

Mineweb asked Cutifani where AngloGold stood on its big South African operations, given this week's Yellow Book report by Fortis VM that the big producers there would have to manage themselves well if there is to be a graceful decline in production over the next 40 years.

He said the challenges were ahead for the whole industry and AngloGold should hold its operations in good stead but will see output drop significantly within a couple of decades.

However, South Africa was still the dominant production centre for the company with elsewhere in Africa second.

South African miners had been hit hard by power shortages this year and he said AngloGold Ashanti had fared well with this challenge. The group profit line and production was set to grow through global development driven primarily by exploration rather than mergers and acquisitions.

Cutifani said that using a well-supported capital raising this year the company was going to dispose of about 5 million oz of hedged gold, leaving it with about 6.1 M oz on forward sales over the next eight years at a gold price with some in the $US350/oz range.

In South Africa the high fatality rates in mines had seen a zero result in the current quarter through vigorous safety training.

June quarter group production was 1.1 million ounces at a total cash cost of $US467/oz and the forecast output for 2008 was between 4.9-5.1 M oz at total costs of between $US450-460/oz.

Developing projects in coming years could add another 500,000 oz to production and this includes the spectacular La Lolosa project in Columbia, Mongbwalu in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the 33.3% owned Boddington project, south of Perth in WA.