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Gold/Mining/Energy : Silver prices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tommaso who wrote (781)	2/21/1998 3:05:00 PM
From: marcos	Respond to of 8010

Central Fund of Canada is CEF.A on the TSE, and one reason Mr Buffett didn't buy it up is that people don't sell it much, it's long-term buy-and-hold for many. You can get a chart and volume from here; www2.canada-stockwatch.com (R)RSP stands for (Registered) Retirement Savings Plan, and compares closely with your IRAs, I think. We get 60 days following the year-end (Mar 1 or 2, usually) to contribute up to 20% of earned income (but not of capital gains). You take what you put in off your top line (gross income) when computing taxes, gains of any kind are sheltered from taxes while left in the plan, and anything you take out is taxed as income in the year you take it out, unless you roll it into a special annuity registered for the purpose. On producers vs juniors for cap gains in a silver bull - Producers will be the first to realize cash flow, of course, but a growing perception of a lasting Ag bull market could bring better percentage gains in quality juniors with proven assets, which have been beaten down pretty harshly in '97. There are several (Claude Cormier posted a list a while back), my two favourites are Minefinders (MFL) and Pacific Rim (PFG), both on Toronto, and both still quite cheap, with great properties, top-notch people, and hefty cash positions. 207.183.153.73 - MFL 207.183.153.73 - PFG I'd like to pick up some 12.50 PAA following Friday's slide in Ag, but won't hold my breath. .......... cheers ............. marcos

To: Tommaso who wrote (781)	2/21/1998 4:01:00 PM
From: Larry S.	Respond to of 8010

Tommaso, I appreciate your posts and those of others on this thread but I normally limit my participation to lurking. However, I thought the following information concerning CEF might be of interest to you and others. In response to requests from new subsribers, McAvity included the following with all of the appropriate qualifiers (he is a Director of the fund) in the latest issue of his news letter. He also recognized the funds ASA Ltd. and BGR Precious Metals as alternatives. He notes that it has been years since he mentioned the CEF in his news letter. " ----- CEF is a closed end fund that holds 130,800 ounces of gold and 6.54 million ounces of Silver - physical, in Canadian bank vaults. They are passive holdings - in a ratio based on 50 ounces of silver for each ounces of gold. The bullion holdings are 99.4% of total assets. (Small periodic sales are made to cover expenses only, which tend to run about 1 % per annum - about the cost of, or a little less than physical storage for private holdings.) At the bearish extremes in December, it got down to 10% to 12% discount to NAV for the first time in many years! (Buffett was paying full price for his silver!) We created it in 1983 to provide a bullion proxy with the convenience of a tradable share, fully invested - with no leveraging - in gold $ silver bullion for regulated accounts (like Pension funds, Insurance Companies, IRA's or RRSP's) that could not buy physical metals. CEF has served those ends very efficiently over the years and tracks the metal prices very efficiently, ranging from 10% to 12% discounts at the true extremes to as much as 10% premiums over NAV in periods of high enthusiasm. Net Asset Value is published weekly in the closed end fund tables of Barrons, the Monday Wall Street Journal, Canada's ROB and Financial Post on Saturdays as well as many other newspapers. It's also available daily by phone at (905) 648 7878 from Investor Relations Office. They can also provide SEC filings, Annual Reports and a form sheet for estimating new asset value to enable you to track it even more closely, if you are interested. CEF offers a unique was of participating in silver and gold bullion in a conventional portfolio. The bulk of the volume occurs on the AMEX where the Specialist has done a great job for years, maintaining a liquid market. (I often remind people that on a $5.00 stock, every 5 cents is 1% --- so if you're trying to take advantage of an extreme discount or premium over NAV, be patient,. Don't try to buy it on the offer side on up days in metals prices. I see too many reach for it on up days. In recent years, a 2% to 5% discount has been the norm - if you pay up to 10 to 25 cents, you are giving the edge away. ------"