What happened
Shares in Centerra Gold (CGAU 1.98%) were up by more than 6% as of midday today. The news comes as the market digests the results of the general election in Turkey. Longtime President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won the presidential election, with his AK Party maintaining a parliamentary majority as part of an alliance.
So what
The election matters to Centerra Gold because one of its two mines in operation is in Oksut, Turkey. However, production of gold dore bars (bars containing gold and other precious metals) has been suspended since March 2022 following the detection of mercury "in the gold room of the adsorption-desorption recovery" plant, according to Centerra.
In response, Centerra removed mercury from the impacted areas, implemented safety measures, and took steps to prevent exposure. Moreover, Centerra submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for regulatory review to get final ministry approval to resume production. The EIA has been accepted but still awaits ministry approval, which is why the election is so important.
A change of government would have signaled significantly more changes in the ministry's leadership, but a win for the current administration implies that the key personnel responsible for the approval will remain in place.
Now what
As such, investors hope the election result has somewhat de-risked the process, and Centerra will get approval shortly. While there's no guarantee it will happen, the election result has removed some potential additional risk, and that's enough to send the stock higher today.
