Strong balance sheets up their appeal

Article Excerpt

ALAMOS GOLD $7.20 (Toronto symbol AGI; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (604-681-2802; www.alamosgold.com; Shares outstanding: 266.3 million; Market cap: $2.8 billion; Dividend yield: 0.4%) owns the Mulatos and El Chanate mines in Mexico, and the Young-Davidson mine in northern Ontario. The company also has a number of development projects in Turkey, the U.S., Mexico and Canada. These include its advanced-stage La Yaqui project, near the Mulatos mine in Mexico, and its advanced-stage Kirazli gold project in Turkey. Both should enter production over the next few years. Late last year, Alamos bought Richmont Mines (symbol RIC on Toronto) for $929 million in Alamos shares. Richmont’s main asset is its Island Gold mine, just 83 kilometres northeast of Wawa, Ontario. The Island Gold mine is expected to produce nearly 100,000 ounces of gold this year. The deposit could hold as much as 1.7 million additional ounces of gold. Richmont released a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) in May 2017 based on a $28 million expansion plan proposal. It would lift Island…