More news releases

Welcome to Centerra

On behalf of the board of directors and more than 3,049 employees around the world currently, welcome to Centerra Gold. This website has been designed with your needs in mind and we hope that it provides much of what you'd like to know about our company.

On June 30, 2004, Centerra was launched as a growth-oriented gold company with the largest gold initial public offering (IPO) on the Toronto Stock Exchange since 1994. At the time of the IPO, the value and size of the company was increased substantially with the acquisition of the remaining two-thirds interest in the Kumtor mine in the Kyrgyz Republic and an additional 42% interest in the Boroo mine in Mongolia.

Since then, we have remained focused on realizing Centerra's central mission, which is to become a senior Canadian-based gold company with a focus on Central Asia, the former Soviet Union and other emerging markets worldwide. We'll get there by following a balanced three-part-strategy for growth. And we'll continue to leverage the strengths that have given Centerra such a strong foundation for success. These include:

1. Proven expertise in Central Asia and the former Soviet Union
Over the years, we've learned what it takes to successfully conduct business in Central Asia and the former Soviet Union. We have established and nurtured strong working relationships in the Kyrgyz Republic, which culminated in the development of Kumtor, the largest gold mine in the former Soviet Union. Subsequently, we leveraged our experience to develop the Boroo mine in a different commercial and legal environment in Mongolia. Currently, we are developing the Gatsuurt property adjacent to the Boroo mine for production in late 2010. We believe our experience in Central Asia provides us with a significant competitive advantage in pursuing opportunities in this unique part of the world.

2. Safe, efficient operations
Centerra currently operates two mines one in the Kyrgyz Republic and the other in Mongolia. The environmental, safety and operational performances of both mines are exemplary and have continued into this year and are reflective of our commitment to operate within World Bank environmental guidelines. The Kumtor mine, has produced more than 7.3 million ounces of gold through 2009, a milestone that is attained only by major gold mines. Boroo, which began commercial operations in March 2004 has produced approximately 1.4 million ounces of gold through the end of 2009.

3. Growing reserves
Exploration is a top priority at Centerra. In 2009, 2.4 million ounces of contained gold were added to reserves, extending the lives of our mines operations significantly. During 2010, we will conduct a $30 million exploration program to unlock the potential of these properties and explore other promising regions in Central Asia, Asia, Turkey and the former Soviet Union and other emerging markets worldwide. The Company sold its interest in the REN joint venture in July 2010 to Homestake Mining Company of California (a subsidiary of Barrick Gold Corporation) for US$35.2 million.

4. A strong financial position
Centerra is debt free and generating solid cash flows from its producing mines. Based on the planned production of our mines and the opportunities that exist to extend their lives, we expect to be able to continue to generate strong cash flows from these sources for years to come. This financial strength provides us with a solid base from which we can pursue acquisitions of gold producing properties or prospects for development and exploration.

5. Leverage to higher gold prices
Finally, and perhaps most fundamentally, we are well positioned to benefit from today's bullish outlook for gold since 100% of our production is un-hedged. Gold prices have continued on an improving trend since 2001 and many factors, including a decline in global mine supply are leading most industry analysts to predict that this trend will continue.

In 2009 we achieved a few milestones as highlighted below:

On April 24, 2009 Centerra negotiated a New Terms Agreement between Centerra, the government of the Kyrgyz Republic and Cameco Corporation, this Agreement was signed in June 2009, and Centerra announced that as part of the closing, it issued from treasury 18,232,615 common shares of Centerra to the government of the Kyrgyz Republic, which brought the total shares issued and outstanding for Centerra to 234,772,566. Cameco also agreed to transfer to the government of the Kyrgyz Republic between 14.1 and 25.3 million common shares of Centerra.

On December 8, 2009, Cameco announced it intended to dispose of all its 113,918,472 common shares of Centerra by selling 88,618,472 common shares of Centerra through a syndicate of underwriters led by CIBC World Markets Inc. and RBC Capital Markets, in an agreement entered in with a syndicate of underwriters as a bought deal. Concurrently with the closing of this offering it would also transfer 25,300,000 common shares of Centerra to Kyrgyzaltyn JSC.

On December 30, 2009, Cameco completed its sale of Centerra's shares in a public offering of 88,618,472 common shares of Centerra at a price of C$10.25 per share, for net proceeds of approximately $872 million. At the same time Cameco transferred 25,300,000 common shares of Centerra to Kyrgyzaltyn JSC pursuant to the Agreement on New Terms of April 24, 2009. Upon completion of closing the public offering and share transfer to Kyrgyzaltyn JSC, Cameco disposed of its entire interest in Centerra.