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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cAPSLOCK who wrote (23728)	12/2/1998 11:12:00 AM
From: dwight vickers	Respond to of 116762

biz.yahoo.com*http://cbs.marketwatch.com/archive/19981202/news/current/stwatch.htx?source=blq/yhoo&dist=yhoo By Thom Calandra, CBS MarketWatch Last Update: 10:11 AM ET Dec 2, 1998 Columns & Opinions SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- "This is the last time to buy cheap. Gold (stocks) have hit bottom." That's Jim Dines, the newsletter writer who spoke at a West Coast gold show in San Francisco the other day. Alas, the weather was stormy. Attendance at the Western Investment Mining Conference show was light, at least when I was there. More importantly, gold prices (GC=Z8) are at an 18-year low of about $293 an ounce. Who cares about gold, silver, oil, gas and other commodities that appear to be sinking into the sunset? See Futures Movers. Well, Dines does, for one. So does the loyal group of precious metals and energy aficionados who regularly tour the country, touting a comeback for forlorn commodities. They include Global Strategic Management's Adrian Day, newsletter editor John Doody and U.S. Global Investors CEO Frank Holmes. Dines, a California resident who describes himself as the "original gold bug," gets credit for taking a stand on the precious metal, which has disappointed many metals investors this decade. Earlier this autumn, the metal briefly flirted with $300 an ounce, bringing to life North American gold mining shares Homestake Mining (HM), Newmont Mining (NEM) and Barrick Gold (ABX), among others. Their day in the sun was brief. Many precious metals mutual funds are down 30 percent for the year -- and more. Gold mining shares ($XAU), while 30 percent or so above their yearly lows, are virtually unchanged from a year ago. Dines sees "hyperinflation" running rampant across the globe. In Jakarta, he says in his The Dines Letter, prices for rice have risen 50 percent in recent weeks. Inflation is manna from the heavens for gold investors. Gold is supposed to hold and increase its value during times when the pace of inflation accelerates rapidly, riddling the potency of paper currencies and securities. Dines points out that while many central banks sell large portions of their gold reserves in favor of paper derivatives and currencies, Russia's government says it won't export any of the metal in 1999. Sooner or later, says Dines, "mass fear will stalk the world, and at that moment, the stampede toward the ultimate safety of gold will be historic." Dines is keeping an eye on shares of Stillwater Mining (SWC), a Denver company that is the only U.S. producer of palladium and platinum. The company says it is the only "significant primary producer" of platinum group metals outside of South Africa. Stillwater, which is profitable, is the only precious metals stock in the world "continuously making new highs," Dines says in his newsletter. Thom Calandra is CBS MarketWatch's editor-in-chief.