Centerra and Eldorado squash rumours

Centerra Gold (CG-T) and Eldorado Gold (ELD-T, EGO-X) took the unusual step of taking time to respond to the rumour mill and one that was turning as far away as Asia.

The companies issued separate press releases to quell rumours of a union between the two mid-tier producers. The rumours were started in the Asian press.

While Eldorado and Centerra confirmed they had talked about combining businesses they said those talks had been discontinued.

In Toronto on Feb. 16, Centerra shares were down roughly 3% or 42 to $13.08 on roughly 230,000 shares while Eldorado shares climbed over 3% or 24 to $7.52 on 3.5 million shares.

Toronto-based Centerra is a gold producer focused on Central Asia, the former Soviet Union and other emerging markets. It is the largest Western-based gold producer in Central Asia and currently has two producing mines, Kumtor in the Kyrgyz Republic and Boroo in Mongolia.

Vancouver-based Eldorado is a producer with three producing mines: Sao Bento in Brazil, the Kisladag mine in Turkey and the Tanjianshan mine in China which was commissioned on Feb. 1.