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Gold/Mining/Energy : At a bottom now for gold? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gabriela Neri who wrote (1179)	6/20/1998 1:07:00 AM
From: ahhaha	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1911

It actually isn't all that difficult to catch a reasonable bottom in the metals because it's an assessment of emotions call. Both gold and silver are doing this now, but you don't go in just yet. There are gaps to be filled. Admittedly in an emotion packed precious metal move you don't need any gaps filled, but sentiment hasn't moved enough to convince the bigger buyers to slow sales and reverse strategy. I like the metals for structural reasons, not for supply/demand reasons. If industry and jewelry was all there was in it, I wouldn't bother. It's a dirty business like oil. Without terror to make it go, there are better things on which to throw away money. However, if you want to hold for the long term which is unheard of in precious metals, it can't hurt to invest in mining companies which don't forward sell, who have low production costs at any grade, and which have cash resources to get from here to there. Such companies exist at bargain prices but only in the kind of environment that we find ourselves in now. This approach is certainly contrary.

To: Gabriela Neri who wrote (1179)	6/22/1998 1:41:00 PM
From: Ray Hughes	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 1911

Gabriela: <<juniors which have some cash resources>> Why would a junior with cash necessarily thrive if good times return? Is there enough cash to survive that long? Will any specific junior have a property with an ore body? Does each junior have 1) good geologists, 2) astute financial management, 3) top managers who understand how to promote, 4) major brokers behind them, 5) a stockholder base that won't simply sell into any rebound? Sorry, but your assumption that juniors with cash will "really thrive" is simplistic. <<All hostile conditions will reverse themselves in time with a healthy POG>> That is known as a straw man case. Why and when would POG increase? This aspiration fails to recognize the change in monetary system. Gold transaction costs and inefficiencies of transfer prevent gold from serving as basis of transactions for world trade. <<The return of inflation will help sentiment greatly...>> Do you understand that majority of gold production is now not labour intensive and, therefore, tendency for inflation to elevate gold mining costs is not operative today. POG protects us from inflation only if the cost of producing gold climbs if inflation translates into rising gold mininig wages not offset by gains in productivity. If higher unit operating costs are not met by rising POG then, ultimately, mines close and gold supply diminishes. However, decline in gold supply must be sufficient to cause actual reduction in marginal supply sufficient to cause users to subscribe to higher prices. Central banks have virtually unlimited gold supply. They short gold against 1) actual holdings, and, 2) their ability to print fiat money to cover gold bear raid costs. They can, I can attest personally, intimidate ring traders by the massive scale of central bank selling, to cause traders to liquidate their own holdings, thereby 1) dropping POG and, 2) intimidating traders sufficiently to cause sharp drop in demand for gold. Gold is no longer money. Central banks have long desired to make fiat currencies "as good as gold" and to do so they must cause POG volatility to diminish to near zero to preclude profit opportunities in POG. That they have succeeded in every way in achieving goals spelled out by Mr. Greenspan as long ago as the late 1970s is evident in the sharply diminished gold price volatility, and resultant down-rating of gold and gold shares by investors. Old Wall Street Adage - don't fight the tape. Gold is dead. The real trick is to figure out what industries benefit from todays' Central Bank policy and goals and to find the beneficiaries to invest in. Gold has been in a ten+ year bear market. Few investors managed to stick profits in the bank from speculating solely on the POG. Those who prospered did so by gaining intimate acquaintance with genuine company builders, of which there were scant few (Barrick, Corona, TVX), and figuring out which were blessed by an orebody but didn't have management smarts to last. If you don't have time, inclination and skills to become personally acquainted with juniors, their properties and their management you have better odds at the Blackjack table. Chances are at least 50-to-1 against a junior finding, from grassroots exploration, an economically viable property. To make money on juniors otherwise means selling on the first hint of a good drill intersection and that is plain crapshooting. Blackjack odds are only about 3.2% against a skillful player. RH