資產縮水和儲量下滑將困擾黃金開採商
The gold mining sector is braced for asset writedowns and a fall in the amount of reserves in the ground after the precipitous drop in the price of the metal this year.
隨着黃金價格在今年暴跌，金礦開採行業將迎來資產減記和儲量下滑。Some of the world’s largest gold miners face having to tell investors that their growth has gone into reverse because the price makes it uneconomic to mine some areas formerly classed as reserves.
全球最大的幾家金礦開採商可能不得不告訴投資者，它們的增長已經步入下行區間，因爲暴跌後的金價使得一些此前被歸爲儲量的金礦不再具有開採價值。Miners’ reserves are vital to prospects and valuations. Companies would quickly shrink if they did not replace what they dug from the ground each year.
儲量對礦商的前景和估值至關重要。如果不能用新儲量替代每年開採的量，公司將很快萎縮。
Price expectations have until now helped gold miners be more optimistic about reserves and to include ounces they would formerly not have been able to mine profitably.
之前，在價格預期的驅使下，金礦開採商對儲量更爲樂觀，並且在儲量報告中加入了先前無法盈利開採的儲量。“Gold has been going up for 12 of the last 13 years and reserves have gone up with the price. This [2014] is definitely the year we will see reserves falling [sectorwide],” said Jorge Beristain, an analyst with Deutsche Bank.
“在過去13年中，金價有12年都在上漲。但2014年將是全行業儲量下降的一年，”德意志銀行(Deutsche Bank)分析師豪爾赫•貝里斯塔因(Jorge Beristain)表示。“Reserve calculations have been based on a series of suppositions that inthe present environment are no longer tenable.”
“儲量的計算根據是一系列的假設，在目前環境下這些假設已經站不住腳。”Gold miners including Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining, the world’s largest by ounces of annual production, have had a difficult year in 2013 because of the effect of the gold price on some of their most important projects. Miners usually update reserve statements early each year. Not all assume the same price. Barrick’s last reserve statement assumed a gold price of $1,500 per ounce for most of its 140m oz of reserves, while Newmont based its statements on a $1,400/oz price.
巴里克黃金公司(Barrick Gold)和紐蒙特礦業公司(Newmont Mining)是全球產量（以盎司計）最高的金礦開採商。包括它們在內的金礦開採商度過了艱難的2013年，原因是金價對它們一些最重要的項目造成了影響。Gold began the year at about $1,600/oz but fell sharply in April. It has hovered about $1,200/oz in recent days.
礦商通常在每年年初發布最新的儲量報告。並非所有公司都採用同一假定價格。巴里克的上一份儲量報告假設其1.4億盎司黃金儲量大部分以每盎司1500美元計價，而紐蒙特的報告則以每盎司1400美元作爲基準。黃金年初價格約爲每盎司1600美元，但在4月份暴跌。近日金價在每盎司1200美元附近徘徊。
