(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) Nevsun (TSE:NSU) is looking towards a promising a year according to analysts at Dundee Capital Markets who reiterated their top pick rating and $6.00 per share price target on the copper producer after reporting "conservative" 2015 guidance.
Dundee said that Nevsun's copper production guidance for the year of 160 to 175 million pounds at an average feed grade of 3.9% copper is conservative especially the copper head grade and it expects the company to be "on the higher side of guidance."
Vancouver-based Nevsun is the 60 percent owner and operator of the high grade Bisha mine in Eritrea northeast Africa.
"We believe there is great potential upside at Bisha and see 2015 as a very promising year for " wrote Dundee analyst Joseph Gallucci in a report released earlier Friday.
"That said we have slightly lowered our production to be in line with guidance."
Nevsun said that it will focus on the Bisha life-of-mine extension this year as well as monetize stockpiled gold ore. It also promised to keep its zinc expansion project on time and on budget for commissioning in the first half of 2016. The miner said it is confident that project capex will remain in the range of $89 million.
The company is planning to announce a revised mineral resource estimate for its Bisha mine in the coming weeks based on a successful 2014 exploration program Dundee said. Nevsun is also preparing a revised life-of-mine plan for the third quarter which will include underground mining scenarios for the future.
Cash costs at Bisha for 2015 are projected in the range of $1.20 to $1.40 slightly above Dundee's estimate of $1.18 per pound.
"Nevsun's Bisha Mine in Eritrea is among the highest-grade and lowest-cost base metal mines in the world" concluded Gallucci.
Shares of Nevsun which recently hiked its dividend to 4 cents per quarter was down 0.9 percent at C$4.48 in Toronto as of 11:00am ET on Friday.
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