The gold mining sector willing are preparing for a new round of acquisitions. Due to the huge drop in the price of gold over the past two years, many mines have run into problems. Many projects that were profitable at a price of $1,500 or $1,600 are no longer profitable now that the gold price has fallen below $1,200 per troy ounce. The industry as a whole has accumulated $30 billion in debt over the 12-year bull market in gold.
The result of the falling gold price is a dichotomy in the sector. Some mines are deeply in debt and running losses, while other mines have been more cautious about scaling up their production and have hardly any debt on their balance sheets.
The latter group includes Randgold Resources, the best-performing gold mine of the past decade. Mark Bristow, the director of this gold mine, told Bloomberg that his company is getting ready to go on an…
