Image source: Eldorado Gold.
What happened
Eldorado Gold Corp's (EGO -4.85%) stock moved up a touch over 22% last month. That was much better than its peers. For example, industry giants Newmont Mining (NEM -4.00%) and Barrick Gold (GOLD -3.98%) were up in the low single digits while smaller players New Gold, Inc. (NGD -1.71%) and Sibanye Gold Limited (SBSW -2.73%) fell in the high single digits.
So what
The big difference was that Eldorado Gold gave a positive update on its future. The miner has a handful of sites and plans to spend over $2 billion through 2020 on development. The impact of that spending is expected to be huge, more than doubling the company's precious metals production. And there's an opportunity for more growth down the line after the current slate of projects get done.
The problem is how to pay for it. A couple billion dollars for a company with a market cap of roughly $2 billion is a lot of money. Which is why the Sept. 8 update was so positive. Eldorado has been exiting China, and has so far sold nearly $1 billion worth of assets. That's materially increased the company's cash balance and, along with the money it expects to generate from the rest of its business, should be more than enough to fully fund its investment plans. Growth spending? It looks like Eldorado's got that covered.
Now what
Like any miner, Eldorado's future rests heavily on the price of the precious metals it sells. So don't expect the company to completely avoid the price swings that its peers face. However, it increasingly looks like the miner is in a good position to expand its business without having to tap the capital markets. That's a particularly good position to be in and something that should clearly interest investors seeking a gold company with a solid production growth profile.
