Nothing quite like having a Gold Miner or two as defensive plays in your portfolio when Inflation starts to rear its ugly head in the Macro Economies of the World.

If your a Gold Bull and I have been for a few years now you probably believe POG is about to hit new highs and break out. Sometime later this year I feel we will really see it take off and Im hoping to position myself for that and also consolidation within the industry with the large Miners buying up the small producing developers like Mercator which trades on the Aim market.

Interesting to read the chaimans recent report on the developments going on in the company...

INTERIM REPORT FOR THE SIX MONTHS TO 31 DECEMBER 2006
CHAIRMAN'S REPORT

I am pleased to present your Company's Interim Report for the six months to 31
December 2006. Mercator continues to advance towards its target of producing
gold bymid-2007 and having at least four years of mineable reserves in place.
The Companyhas already defined a mining reserve of 75,000 ounces of gold at
Surprise and anindicated resource of 380,000 ounces of gold at
Prohibition-Vivian-Consols. Furtherdrilling is being conducted at Prohibition to
extend the existing resources andstudies are currently underway to defining a
probable reserve to allow for a decisionwith regard to the second stage
production planned for early 2008. The recentfund-raising of 4.49 million
provides the capital required to achieve the aboveobjectives.

Refurbishment of the Yaloginda Plant is nearing completion with re-commissioning
expected to commence during May. All of the plant components starting with the
crushing circuit, milling circuit, leaching and finishing with the gold elution
circuit will have been fully tested before full scale production is achieved.
Lowgrade ore from existing stockpiles and from the pre strip material for the
Surpriseopen pit will provide the initial re-commissioning ore source. Full
scale productionwould follow the build up of gold inventory in the Carbon in
Leach circuit.Updated Resource estimates for Prohibition-Vivian-Consols are
under review togetherwith various mining scenarios that will lead to Probable
Reserve announcements in thecoming weeks.

Plans are being developed to optimise the use of Mercator's extensive tenement
holdings at Meekatharra, which presently cover 1,932km2 with contained gold
resourcesof 2,160,000 ounces. The Board believes there is considerable potential
to utilisethese ground holdings in the current positive gold-mining environment.
The Board ispresently considering a number of alternatives in this regard.
Your Company's professional team continues to deliver positive results on all
frontsand I am confident they will continue to deliver at similarly high
standards in thefuture.

To compliment the existing team, three new production orientated appointments
havebeen made: a highly skilled and experienced Mining Engineer to the position
ofOperations Manager, the appointment of an equally experienced Metallurgist as
ProcessManager, and appointment of a Mine Planning engineer. At a time when
skilledprofessionals are highly sought after in Western Australia, Mercator has
been mostfortunate to attract the calibre of these professionals who are also
locating to siterather than electing a fly in fly out roster.

I look forward to reporting to you on your company's progress on a regular basis
throughout this exciting phase in our development.

Terrence Strapp
CHAIRMAN

AND to complement this we had a RNS report out earlier today re to new contract....

MERCATOR GOLD PLC
('Mercator Gold' or the 'Company')

MINING CONTRACT AWARDED


Mercator Gold Australia Pty Ltd is pleased to announce a 'Heads of Agreement'
has been reached with Mining & Civil Australia Pty Ltd ('MACA') to carry out the
initial Open Pit mining of the Surprise ore reserve.

The contractor will commence mobilisation of plant and equipment on 24 April
2007.

MACA is an emerging Western Australia owned and operated company which has
quickly established an excellent reputation in the Mining Contracting industry.

MACA currently employs approximately 230 people and has completed projects for
Lion Ore, Harmony Gold and Croesus Mining. Its current projects include Fortnum
(Gleneagle), Jack Hills (Murchison Metals), Wiluna (Agincourt Resources),
Kirkalocka (Equigold) and North Dordie (Mincor Resources).

Managing Director, Patrick Harford, commented:

'The appointment of Mining & Civil as earth moving contractor at Meekatharra
brings us an important step closer to production. We move now from the planning
stage to the implementation of our strategy for profitable and sustainable
production.'


Mercator Gold plc.

WEB SITE...

www.mercatorgold.com

TA....



MARKET CAP....

46 million

DYOR.

A good day for this one.

Yep chaps things look positive.

Good write up here about MCR. Go to the last few pages....

http://www.minesite.com/fileadmin/content/pdfs/Brokers_Reports_5/juniorminingpaydirt290607.pdf

Looks like a breakout on the charts.

Any of you TA experts willing to give a summary?, go on be a devil....

Started digging this morning. 2 shovelfuls @ 95p.

here you are tosspots!!

25 dma now rising quite strongly and sp has plenty of impetus ...... support around 80p and/or where 200 dma is hit .... rsi indicates getting toppy, but there is (perceived) good reason for rise in sp.

gold still in doldrums, but i am afraid i do not have a chart ...... i think the trend still remains upwards with many pundits still predicting plenty of upside.

Many thanks for that Cynic.

its just ticked up.

cynic go to kitco.com , you can see all the charts you want

will be interesting to see where (if) 25 and 50 dma cross .... though that is NOT a golden cross (ideally should be 50+200 dma), it MAY indicate a support level

Looking for a sound week.

Looks even better now that POG looks about to move upwards.

the one really has nothing to do with the other

Yep your right I rate MCR as a better investment than P Hambro at this present time LOl.

:-)

as i now hold both, shall be delighted if either or both perform

Lets hope so.

More Gold In Those Hills

By Steve Scott | 24 July 2007
|
Little over 3 months ago I wrote about 3 small gold miners; Medusa Mining (LSE: MML) , Mercator Mining (LSE: MCR) and Davos Resources, now renamed Norseman Gold (LSE: NGL) , which looked good value if they could deliver on their production plans

Since then the share price of Medusa has risen by 54%, Mercator by 34% and Norseman by 14%. Both Medusa and Mercator have delivered impressive drill results and, despite the rises, still look good value relative to their production plans and projected cash operating costs.

Of course, finding gold is one thing, but having the funds to develop a commercial gold mine is another. Raising capital from the stock market for small gold miners can be very expensive and dilutive for existing shareholders, leaving them with only a fraction of the potential upside.

With this in mind Cluff Gold (LSE: CLF) looks another interesting prospect. Cluff is targeting output of over 100,000 oz of gold in 2008/9 rising to 280,000 oz in 2011, from three mines in West Africa (Ivory Coast, Burkino Faso and Sierra Leone).

With over 10 million in the bank at the end of December 2006 and a further 15 million raised in March of this year, Cluff looks well placed to deliver on its plans without further recourse to shareholders. Average cash costs are expected to be around $250 per oz which, with the current gold price at $675 per oz, would deliver an annual pre-tax cash contribution of around 20 million, rising towards 60 million within 4 years. Relative to that, Cluff's market capitalisation of 46.4 million (at 67.5p a share) looks to offer good value. Current gold resources amount to 1.6 million oz and the company expect that to increase.

AurumMining (LSE: AUR) looks like another company with the cash to deliver on its strategy. Its net cash at 31 March 2007 of 28.3 million should be enough to fund the 24.3 million capital expenditure needed to bring its mine in Kyrgyzstan into production. Aurum expects production to reach 125,000 oz within 2 years, which at an average cash cost of $223 per oz, would equate to an annual pre-tax cash contribution of around 28 million. Aurum's market capitalisation is only 46.3 million (at 96.5p) and it has current resources of 1.2 million oz, with drilling expected to increase this.

Finally Leyshon Resources (LSE: LRL) is projecting 50,000 oz per annum within 3 years as its 70% share of output from the Zheng Guang mine in north east China, rising to 75,000 oz per annum by 2012. Cash costs are estimated at a very attractive $135 per oz, net of substantial silver and zinc credits

At current metal prices Leyshon is forecasting its share of annual pre-tax cash contribution to rise to around 19 million. Leyshon is capitalised at 58.3 million (at 26.5p), with its share of resources being 1.2 million oz, although only a small portion of the prospect area has been drilled. With only 8 million in the bank, Leyshon will however need to raise some further capital to fund the expenditure of 25 million required to bring the mine into production.

It's worth emphasising again that small gold miners are notoriously risky investments. Further drilling may not deliver the hoped for expansion in reserves to maintain projected output and all, of course, are at the mercy of the prevailing gold price. What's more, there's always the danger that governments in emerging market countries could turn nasty and increase tax rates or nationalise a mine.

Nevertheless if these companies can deliver on their plans, patient investors should be well rewarded

Languishing at a nice low.

MCR still looks to be one of the better gold plays around and we should get an RNS this week confirming gold production has started as suggested from their last announcement:

LONDON: 19 September 2007 - Mercator Gold PLC (AIM: MCR) is pleased to announce
that commissioning of the recently refurbished three million tonne per annum
(mtpa) treatment plant at its 100%-owned Meekatharra Gold Operations in Western
Australia is nearing completion, with full commercial production scheduled to
commence within the next ten days.

It looks as though the wider market is slowly getting to grips with the fact that these shares may have a lot further to run.

Ian

excellent performance and chart is strong too, though a breather may be in order ..... CEY is also worth looking at

Lovely move up recently due in part to the credit crunch.

Certainly one to be on.