By Peter Ker
Gold prices will surge if Donald Trump is successful in winning his way to the White House, says one of Australia's fastest growing goldminers.
While he didn't explicitly name Mr Trump, there was little doubt who Northern Star boss Bill Beament was talking about when discussing the outlook for gold prices on Wednesday.
Fresh from reporting a stellar set of production results, Mr Beament said the recent Brexit vote had little lasting impact on the gold price.
But he noted that another democratic event could have an impact.
Delegates hold campaign signs for Donald Trump.Credit: Bloomberg
"Obviously the next big catalyst is who wins the presidential election in America and that has got more of an impact on the gold price than what Brexit will have so it will be interesting," he said.
"We all know if someone gets in it will quite positive for gold."
It is not the first time that Mr Trump's rise has been linked to the recent rally in gold prices; it was widely noted in May that gold rose above $US1300 per ounce for the first time in 17 months in the same week that Mr Trump clinched the Republican Party nomination.
Of course, the US Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates slower than expected has been the main driver of a rally that has seen prices for the precious metal soar almost 30 per cent since December.
Northern Star boss Bill Beament reckons gold prices may run higher if Donald Trump wins his way to the White House.Credit: Bloomberg
Mr Beament said the rally was not finished yet.
"The overall trend I think is up, I am not a huge gold bull ... but I definitely think it is a longer term trend heading upwards because of what is happening with the global economies around the world," he said.
It is not the first time that Mr Trump's rise has been linked to the recent rally in gold prices.
The comments came as Northern Star reported another strong set of production results. The miner recovered 558,143 ounces of gold in the year and sold 561,153 ounces, which was at the top end of its guidance range.
Unit costs were lower than guidance and lower than last year at $1041 per ounce; well below the year's average Australian denominated gold price of $1578.
Northern Star boss Bill Beament.Credit: Bohdan Warchomij
Northern Star shares were 8¢ higher at $5.39 in morning trade, having almost doubled their price this year.
The company produced $224.2 million of free cash flow in the 2016 financial year and has no debt, and Mr Beament was asked on Wednesday whether shareholder returns might be boosted when the company reports its full-year accounts in August.
"It is obviously a good problem to have, we've probably got one of the strongest balance sheets in the resource sector," he said.
"We have still got to get our full year accounts finalised and audited ... it is fair to say we are having a bit of a discussion on capital management with the board, I will keep my powder dry on that.
"We will come out more on capital management when we put out our full-year accounts."
While many will take those comments as an indication that shareholder returns will rise, Mr Beament said the company did have projects to spend money on.
"We are pretty much building three new mines in the next 18 months, we have got Millennium (mine) construction under way, Central Tanami is going to happen as well and there is a third thing that is very, very close on the horizon that we will announce later on in due course," he said.
"We've still got a fair bit of capex to build that production up to 700,000 ounces per annum, that is going to take capital."