The Re-emergence of Small Gold Mines

The history of gold mining shares often follows a well-known path from artisanal mining, through to collectives and smaller mines, discoveries to larger >100,000ozpa or >500,000ozpa producers, followed by larger companies taking over smaller companies. And eventually by those larger companies dropping the small mines (usually <50,000ozpa, occasionally <75,000ozpa) as they are too small to have any impact or occupy too much management time.

When is the Iron Ore Bubble Going to “POP!” ?

We have been through a number of popped bubbles in the past year such as nickel, most of the base metals, uranium and possibly even gold and are currently in the iron ore, coal and oil bubble, which like the previous ones that have burst has the media and some analysts predicting ever greater heights.

Fly Away in May...

The old stockmarket adage of “fly away in May – return in August” based on a mix of the FA Cup, Wimbledon and the Northern Hemisphere holidays usually meant that due to a lack of traders on desks, the market usually drifted sideways, if not slightly down.

Why is the Nickel Price Back Below US$5/lb?

Our column in the December 2003 edition of Paydirt, referred to the nickel price closing at US$12,080/t (US$5.48/lb) on 7 November 2003, with the 27-month LME forward curve then above US$10,000/t (US$4.54/lb). According to WMC the real long-term average nickel price was ~US$5/lb, or possibly ~US$6/lb in the opening presentation of Brian Hurley at the Paydirt 2003 Nickel Conference.

Understanding Gold

Quite a few comments have been written about gold and its expectations since October 2008. Particularly after the US$100/oz fall within two days to 23 October 2008, hovering above US$700/oz despite significant demand for physical gold, and subsequently rising US$100/oz to over US$800/oz similarly over about two days around the 23 November 2008.