JIMBOWEN27

My two favourite silver stocks are Silver Wheaton and First Majestic. SLW has a great business model and is the lower risk way to get silver exposure, whilst FR has great management and growth prospects. Here are write ups on both, which sums them up pretty well: http://commodityshares.net/silver-wheaton-lower-risk-silver-exposure/ http://commodityshares.net/first-majestic-silver-growth-stock/ I still can't believe how bombed out the gold and silver stocks are but don't think this can last forever!

Some thoughts on the gold mining industry from Evy Hambro, Rob McEwen and Nolan Watson: http://commodityshares.net/?page_id=129

Jim Willie (Part 2/2): the rush for physical gold is on

Frizzers/Dr Bubb I too think gold shares are cracking value and should double over the next 18-24 months. My question is, do you prefer majors, midcap producers, advanced development projects or explorers? Frizzers - do you still like Aureus? It looks a great company to be. I have a fair chunk of cash (sterling) and don't want to hold such a large amount. I do have a reasonable amount of physical and gold stocks already

Taking over Aurelian for $1.2bn doesn't look that cheap. As a comparison you can buy Centamin Egypt, which has a 14m oz resource (and a resource upgrade out next month) for around £900m. They are producing 200k oz this year and forecasting 300k oz next year, rising to 500k oz from 2013 onwards. Obviously they have been hammered this year as they operate in Egypt.

Yes - worth having a look at Medusa Mining, which is a midcap producer aiming to grow production from current 100,000oz/pa to 400,000oz/pa by 2016. They are unhedged and generating a lot of cash. All development can be self funded and they pay a divi of around 1.5%. I've held for three years now and met the management this week. I posted my comments on the Medusa thread: http://www.greenenergyinvestors.com/index.php?showtopic=7013 Also worth having a look at Centamin Egypt (CEY) which has a massive mine but has been hit by political risk concerns.

All, Hope you don't mind me posting on the gold thread but there has been a bit of discussion on gold miners on here. I attended a Medusa Mining presentation in London yesterday, which was pretty interesting. I've posted comments on the Medusa thread - link below: http://www.greenenergyinvestors.com/index.php?showtopic=7013&st=0&gopid=232015entry232015 Jim

Goldfinger, My preference is for good quality mid cap gold producers. Imo one of the best around is Medusa Mining (MML) which is dual listed on the main LSE and the ASX. I know I have mentioned this company before and there is a board under the mining section on GEI. I have been invested since January 2009 and the management have delivered on everything they have said included production targets. They are a narrow vein miner so don’t have huge reserves, although they have just announced an increased resource of 30% to 1.9m oz. Geoff Davis, the CEO is on record as saying he believes the current mine will produce up to 7m oz and this will be revised after the recent upgrade. MML has just produced 100k oz for the current year at cash costs of below $200, which makes it one of the lowest cost producers in the world. As they operate in the Phillipines, labour costs are likely to stay lowish and the use of electric machinery and high grade nature of the resource (c10g/t) should keep costs down. They produce in the Southern part of the Philippines and have a good relationship with the government and local community. They pay a dividend (yield of around 1.5%) and are looking to produce 200k oz pa in 2013, increasing to 400k oz in 2016 when their second mine comes on stream. The development of both mines can comfortably be funded from internal cashflow (so no dilutive placings). They currently have around $100m cash and also hold part of this as bullion – quite sensible given the declining value of fiat currencies MML has about another 8 exploration properties (including some copper) which could add substantial value over the next few years. I attended a company presentation back in May and the CEO said that these will be monetised (ie farmed out via a JV with a major). They are spending over $20m pa on exploration. The market cap is close to £1bn so it’s not a tiddler but I could still envisage the stock being worth around £20 a share if all goes to plan and that’s not factoring in much higher gold prices. I don’t want this to sound like a ramp but I have not found an established gold stock with better fundamentals. I have around 25% of my total investment portfolio in MML and know of a few other investors in a similar position. M&G and Fidelity Investments own over 25% of the company and management also have good share holdings. My one concern is that the company might be bought out before they reach their full potential Here’s a link to their corporate presentation: http://www.medusamining.com.au/newsroom/asx/2011/110518_presentation.pdf Jim

Pixel - did you see the GPR results the other day? It's been a volatile ride but I'm still in. I view it as a smaller First Majestic

Apologies if posted before. Standard Chartered have published an interesting gold note - particularly comments about the supply constraints facing the gold mining industry. Imo, there is not consideration given to this. I recently asked a well known gold fund manager how high he thought the gold price would have to go to see a meaningful increase in supply. His view was a lot higher - perhaps double the current price. Full link to report: http://www.zerohedge.com/article/standard-chartered-three-factors-will-drive-gold-5000

That makes sense to take a profit! There is plenty more to come from Medusa over the long term. They are aiming to increase production from current 100k oz pa to 400koz pa by 2015/6. You should have a look at the thread on advfn. Chip's earnings forecasts are useful and he is forecasting eps of 120p for the 2014 year, and this does not account for production from Bananghilig (their second potential mine, which would be open pit).

At first glance GPR's resource looks low, however it has recently increased substantially. However, is it not due to the epithermal nature of the deposit? Often maangement know there the metal is there but they concentrate on getting production up to speed rather than building a huge deposit first. Here's a link the website. http://www.greatpanther.com/s/Guanajuato_Mine.asp?ReportID=411947&_Type=Guanajuato-Mine-Complex&_Title=Exploration-Program-ResourceReserve-Estimate It's similar with narrow vein gold miners such as Medusa (MML). Due to the nature of their deposit they are highly unlikely to ever have more than 5 years worth of reserves. MML has reserves of 500k and are only looking to replace mined output each year. However, the grades are exceptionally high and cash costs are $190 an oz. This is what makes it one of the best mines in the world imo. Apolgies for going off topic.

Thanks Pixel. There is a good interview with the CEO of SLW on financialsense.com - the point about the dividend is interesting. http://www.financialsense.com/financial-se...0-dollar-silver I am looking at a number of silver stocks including Avino, Alexco, Fortuna, Impact Silver and Silver Bear Resources. All are small and mid cap. In gold, have you come across Medusa Mining (MML)? They are producing 100k oz pa at cash costs of under $190. MML is a high grade narrow vein miner and are currently building up to expand their existing mine to over 200k oz pa in 2013. They have a potential open pit mine, which will add another 200k oz pa by 2015. There are also several other potential gold and copper targets and all development is being financed by internal cash generation. MML also pays a six monthly dividend - i've yet to find another gold stock that is such a cash machine. Here is the latest presentation: http://www.medusamining.com.au/newsroom/as...resentation.pdf

Pixel, Which silver stocks do you hold and any new ones that you're looking at adding? Thanks Jim

It's a good strategy imo - i just wish Centamin Egypt didn't have Egypt in their name Imo silver stocks are still massively under owned and it's such a small market. What price silver producers/explorers if silver goes to $100+ like Eric Sprott and David Morgan are predicting?

Hi Pixel, I got into GPR a bit later (my average was $2.30). I watched in for a long time so glad I finally took the plunge. The AMEX listing has definitely helped but GPR is a real cash cow right now with cash costs of $7/oz (forecast to fall to $5) and 50% production growth forecast for 2012. I met the CEO (Robert Archer) at the London Silver Summit last November and was very impressed. Am intending to hold for a few years yet as I think this has much further to go over the next 3-5 years. Jim

Jefferies have initiated coverage of GORO with a $45 price target.

Fair enough. My ISA's are my core long term holdings to. I also hold about 16% of my portfolio in gold sovs so am fully CGT exempt. I am looking to diversify although should point out CEY is capitalised at £1.6bn so not exactly small and likely to be within FTSE 100 within 12 months. MML is c£500m so not exactly small either. I did hold Gold and General but sold to buy MML. Nothing wrong with it but some of the majors that they are invested in have much higher cash costs.

Which gold stocks are you in? My ISA is splt between CEY (40%) and MML (60%). Should really diversify at some stage but these are excpetional companies imo - MML are producing gold at $180 an oz and expanding production strongly. There is a good thread on advfn