yup broke through it about 10 mins ago. My thought are this at the moment, go for the Yank companies, BEMA gold. Ok yes I put up a speculative buy on Thistle and I am still holding but I have taken top end profits. One that could suprise is Minmet, no SA problems or african problems, mines in Sweden and looking at last strong.

Cheers GF.

Dollar fall overnight most likely the reason = gold up

Speculation that Japan might support dollar.If this happens will the dollar
rise and gold fall ?

ajren, think this is all speculation like you say. Dont forget the strength in POG isnt all coming from the exchange rates, China is a massive buyer and the asian countries as a whole are increasing demand for the yellow stuff. Im very much a Bull and think we could hit $ 425 post xmas. Bema is the one for me I will post a fabulous report on it here in the next ten mins, its certainly one for the bottom drawer awating the pension days lol. Heres the latest update......

LONDON (AFX) - The price of gold eased on profit-taking in midafternoon
trade, following a push up above 400 usd earlier today, analysts said.
"Profit taking, light producer selling and options selling emerged on the
highs to cap the market and gold has drifted back," said analyst James Moore of
TheBullionDesk.com, noting a rally to over 400 usd an ounce this morning, which
extended sharp gains made yesterday to take gold to its highest price for over 7
years.
At 2.30 pm, gold was down 95 cents at 397.55 usd an ounce, having yesterday
rallied in a move that reversed sharp losses seen on Monday.
Analysts at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) said: "It has taken
several attempts over the past few days and in the end -- and not unusually -- a
significant push from a weak US-Dollar, but finally this morning gold reached
400 usd for the first time in more than seven years."
"In order for this to happen, the Euro had to rise against the Dollar to a
high of almost 1.20 on the back of the US announcing the introduction of import
quotas on Chinese textiles."
The euro/dollar drifted to 1.1943 this afternoon, edging lower after
yesterday's push up to close at 1.1968.
"It was mostly speculative demand driving the gold price up," added the
analysts at DrKW.
"As far as fundamentals are concerned, news has been rather negative:
recycling is increasing and at the same time jewellery buyers seem to be
sticking to their "wait-and-see" approach.
"This may be why, looking at the gold price in Euro terms -- which is still
relatively weak -- it cannot really be claimed that gold is performing
particularly well here despite reaching this morning's new high."
"Anyway, looking at the charts and on the basis that the Dollar supports
such a move, there seems to be room for further gains. It looks like 404.25 usd
(rising trend-line) is now the next major resistance," they said.
Elsewhere, silver was off 3 cents at 5.34 usd an ounce.
Platinum fell 5.50 usd at 766.50 usd an ounce, while palladium lost 4 usd at
195.50 usd an ounce.
Meanwhile, base metals activity was mixed but prices mostly held steady,
analysts said.
"Base metal markets remain volatile but supported," said analysts at
Barclays Capital.
By midafternoon, 3-month copper was down 24.50 usd at 2,033 usd a tonne, and
aluminium gained 2.50 usd at 1,518 usd a tonne.
Nickel was unchanged at 12,130 usd a tonne, and tin fell 20 usd at 5,330 usd
a tonne.
frank.watson@afxnews.com
fw/lam


cheers Gf.

I think BEMA went far too high too early this morning on very little volume. Oxus ( OXS ) is a far better bet for me, serious investors in this one who don't bail out the minute the price goes down. It's going to hit 1 easily by Christmas and 1.30 early in 2004. jmop

Hi Scottie, ive heard some very good things about Oxus OXS, so lets not argue lets get on both money making bad waggons. Will buy OXS in the morning. Many thanks.

WARNING please do not get carried away with the present boom in GOLD, always have a balanced portfolio.

cheers GF.

As promised but a lttle late thee news article on BEMA GOLD.

Minews Story



Date : October 21, 2003



Kupol Gold Project In Chukotka Is Key To The Future Of Bema Gold.


Bema Gold, a mid-tier gold producer in Canada came quietly onto AIM a couple of weeks ago. Quietly, apart from a shindig at Claridges to announce that the secondary listing had been achieved by way of introduction. No money was raised as it is well funded, but this has meant that the amount of information available to UK investors was limited. It also meant that liquidity in London was comparatively small, though the company trades huge amounts of shares daily in Toronto. The object of the listing was not money, but to raise the profile of Bema among European investors according to Clive Johnson, Bema’s chief executive.

As a first step Tim Hoare, the redoubtable boss of its London brokers Canaccord , suggested to Mr Johnson that a presentation be given at the next Minesite Mining Forum in November. An invitation had, in fact, been sent to him a couple of weeks earlier, but no answer had been received. He seemed in favour and at his suggestion another letter was sent, but with the same result. In the meantime Minews had, on advice, adopted a fall-back position in case Mr Johnson could not make it. Contact had been made with Bema’s man, or rather men, in London, so that if necessary one of them should step into the breach. Bema, after all, is establishing an office in South Kensington from which its UK/European PR/IR campaign can be operated.

Memories went back to when Henry Clive did a similar job for John Jones of Troy Resources at the 11th Minesite Mining Forum in June. Henry used to be a stockbroker and it is to his credit that Troy now has over 30 per cent of its equity in UK hands without bothering with an AIM listing. Whisper it quietly, lest it get to Australia, but he did a job as good as, if not better , than his boss. Unfortunately things did not go so smoothly with Bema. Mr Johnson, according to his London team, has to attend to family matters in November so cannot make the next Forum. He does not want either of his two representatives to take his place , so the next time it may be possible for him to appear is February.

Mr Johnson is a good promoter. No doubt about that, and a string of fundings has been completed to prove it. At Claridges he managed to give a very upbeat talk without once mentioning the Petrex acquisition in South Africa which cost his company C$67 million about a year ago. For this it purchased the Golden Reefs mines on the Witwatersrand as well as eight production shafts and a mill which produced 146,000 ounces of gold in the year to end June 2002 at a cash cost of US$194/ounce according to Canadian stockbrokers Loewen, Ondaatje, McCutcheon. Based on an independently audited 10 year mine plan, the mine is projected to produce an average of 185,000 ounces of gold per year with operating cash costs estimated at approximately US$185 per ounce. With some expansion here and there, plus mining slightly higher grade material , it is now expected to be producing at a rate of 200,000 ounces/annum by the end of this year.

Then was then and now is now and there seems little doubt that the strength of the rand in the intervening period has injected a bit of pain into the proceedings, currency put options notwithstanding.. Nevertheless the additional production means that Bema has been able to forecast 300,000 ozs for next year from South Africa and the Julietta gold mine in Russia at an average price of US$200/oz. In addition to this there is the Refugio mine in Chile which is jointly owned with Kinross. This may be restarted towards the end of 2004 and it would add a further 115,000 ounces to Bema’s annual production, but at a high cost. The same goes for the Cerro Casale deposit in Chile where Bema has a 24 per cent interest. If Placer Dome decides to go ahead with it, more high cost ounces will be added to Bema’s production portfolio.

This is the crux of the matter. Bema has to decide if it wants to be a high cost, or a low cost producer which is where the Kupol gold project comes into play. A 75 per cent interest was acquired shortly after the South African deal and it is up in Chukotka near Julietta. Kupol hosts a large epithermal gold and silver vein system that is up to 30 metres wide with significant values over a true width of up to 15 metres and Canaccord believes that it has all the earmarks of a world class deposit. The latest drilling results confirmed the continuing high grade gold mineralization over 3.1 kilometres of drilled strike length and to a depth of at least 300 metres. Grades as high as 35.56 g/t gold and 865.51 g/t silver over 9.6 metres were encountered.

Opinion is hardening that this may be a 10 million ounce deposit. More will be known in January when an initial resource estimate is published. It would then be possible to move to pre-feasibility in short order and on to a bankable feasibility study within 12 months. Obviously it will be a low cost open pit operation and Clive Johnson has said that that it could be in production by 2007 at a rate of between 700,000 and 1 million ozs of gold a year. This would mean mining around 900,000 tonnes/annum of the high grade ore in the North Zone and Big Bend regions and the capital cost of developing the mine would be around US$200 million. The amazing thing is that net of silver credits the gold would be produced at a cost of virtually zero. It is difficult to find a simpler and better story than that, so more is the pity that Mr Johnson chose not to let his London team explain it to the Minesite audience. It would have also given them a chance to introduce themselves.ENDS.

Yup, looks like top bombing to me, if this isnt a world classplayer show me one better and I have both avocet and thistle but this one is the gem amongst them.

cheers gf.

NOV 19 2003................GOLD = 400.30
Spot price in Asia Trading.The first time + 400 since 1996
This info only recently became known.
g.f.It did not break 400 anywhere else and this was the Spot Price.
London a.m. was 397.15
London p.m. was 395.15
New York highest was 398.30

Also Hong Kong - Nov 19 - 399.15 = + 6.30 Dollars.399.15 was also Unique and
almost unknown about.

Nov 20 - today :-
World Spot Price for Asia/Europe/New York = 394.80 : + .30 from New York Close

As I said before : I do not trade in mining so have no opinion.

Yesterday I got a BUY recommendation for :-

Barrick Gold : www.barrick.com

@ a 21 dollar price they - not me - estimated a 249 per cent upside i.e.73 dol.

I get Live prices e.g.:-
394.80 above is Now 395.90
Cheers aj

Now 395.50 : 11.50 a.m rgds aj

Great day for BEMA so far ajren. Think it may have a good day on the US markets aswell due to bombs in Turkey. What a sad place the world is today.

GF.

It's probably not time to dive in yet, but don't lose sight of Conroy Diamond and Gold CDG. Have a look at their web site for all the technical stuff, but basically they've found plenty of it in Ireland, but for the moment seem content to keep on test drilling and assaying. One day Prof. Conroy will start digging it up and flogging it - that's when I want to be holding a load of their shares.
Their Diamond interests in Finland are also worth keeping an eye on.

Agreed kaygee, definitely one for the future.

World Spot closed @ 393


London a.m.=395.75
London p.m.=394.30

I cannot understand this as it should have gone to 400 + because of bombs.
Opinions ?

It will go ajren, if not tomorrow then sometime in the next couple of weeks. Look out for OXS - a presentation today by Bill Trew, the CEO of Oxus, at the 2nd Annual Gold Investment Summit. He's a smooth operator, and the last time he did a presentation the price rocketed. OXS will be worth at least 1 by Christmas imop.

what price do u think Bema Gold will get to by christmas time or early part of 2004.
I'm thinking of buying into them but maybe i have missed out by the sudden increase esp in the last week or so.

And does anyone have a realistic view of share price of Avocet mining as they have interim results out on the 26th.

Thanks for any replies and for all of the above info

Friday November 21, 2:46 PM
Professional Gold Investors Say Shares Appear Stretched
(This story was originally published Thursday)

By Michael Wang
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES


LONDON (Dow Jones)--Top professional gold investors warned Thursday that share valuations are looking "stretched" but fell short of issuing a sell recommendation.

That's because many feel the spot gold price - already hovering at seven-and-a-half year highs - hasn't finished its run.

Graham Birch, head of Merrill Lynch Investment Management's natural resources team, said based on a rule-of-thumb that cyclical commodity prices roughly double after they have reached the bottom, gold still has some upside.

"If we say that the bottom of the cycle was roughly $250 (an ounce), than we could be looking at $500 (an ounce)," he said on the sidelines of a gold investment conference here.

In the past seven months, the precious metal has appreciated by 25%. In late European trading Thursday, spot gold was hovering around $393.50 an ounce, down from about $400 an ounce Wednesday.

But fund managers said, at the moment, gold-share prices appear to have got carried away based on historic valuations. Factors such as replacing production with reserves, cutting costs and boosting profitability are also powerful determinants of share value, they said.

"Valuationsare a little bit stretched," said David Whitten, head of a global resources fund at Australia's Colonial First State (CFI.AU). He was referring to such standard measurement ratios as price to earnings, enterprise value to earnings before interest and tax, and the internal rate of return of gold mining companies.

"We mightsee a little correction (downward) in the gold market," Walter Wehrli, a Zurich-based gold-fund advisor, predicted, noting signs of share-price "overheating" in some junior gold miners.

Echoing other market sentiments, John Hathaway, managing director, of Tocqueville Asset Management LP, asked: "Is it time to take the money off the table?"

Hathaway didn't offer an answer, other than to say he felt a spot gold price north of $400 is sustainable. In 2004, "$400 an ounce will look like $300 an ounce does now," he forecast.

But he warned that one of the biggest "challenges for global mining companies (is) to maintain output at current levels."

The task is difficult given long lead times in booking reserves from exploration and the heftier costs attached with companies mining increasingly exotic and remote areas -such as the former Soviet Union, Southeast Asia and South America.

Nevertheless, the fund managers did offer investors their best share picks for the sector.

Wehrli is tipping Australia's Kingsgate Consolidated Ltd. (KCN.AU) as a hot buy.

He noted the company's sub-$150/oz cash cost profile, rising profitability, accumulating reserves picture and generous 7% dividend as key supports.

MLIM's Birch punted South Africa's Harmony Gold Mining Co. (HAR.JO) as one of his favorites given its world-beating reserves profile. Harmony's status would be even more improved were it not for the near doubling in the value of the South African rand against the dollar in the last 23 months, he noted.

Wehrli added that a good model for picking gold mining winners is to find exploration companies that are just about to go into production.

On that score, London-based Oxus Gold (OXS.LN) is a candidate as it is scheduled to pour its first gold in Uzbekistan around Christmas.

I think Dow Jones report is nonsense:-

Gold is 393.85 now in u.k.-considerably down than Before terrorism.I think
the price will be 398/399 on tuesday.IF I am right it is a great opportunity
to buy now.Opinions ?

New York Spot Price :-

Ask = 396.00

Bid = 395.50

World spot price

Ask = 394.00

Bid = 393.50

Looks like my forecast of 398/399 - last week - for tomorrow is completely wrong