Gold may not have a practical value as an alternative currency. It’s not possible to enter a shop and pay for any product or service in gold. However, the precious metal may have value as an alternative to cash or other assets due to its scope to help protect against rising inflation. Inflation potential In…
The election result has plunged the UK into a period of significant political uncertainty. There have been calls for Theresa May to resign, and there is the potential for a relatively weak minority government formed by the Conservatives and DUP. This could be just the beginning of an intense period for UK politics. In just…
Among the four main ways to make money from mining gold or silver – exploration, development, streaming or financing a mine – it is streaming (or royalties) that can often be by far the most profitable. I showed in my earlier streaming coverage how streamers tended to make much more profit from a mine than…
Following my recommendation 15 months ago, followers saw Berkeley Energia (LON:BKY) nearly treble by January as more and more commentators jumped aboard and as the company issued a stream of bullish news on progress and prospects for uranium. But the shares are now 20% off their top and perhaps the market is satiated with a…
The share price of gold miner Centamin* (LON:CEY) has slumped by over 12% in the last two weeks. Apart from a 1.5% fall in the price of gold in the same time period, the only other significant news regarding the company was the sale of almost £40 million of shares by its Chairman, Josef El-Raghy.…
A vertebra in the spinal column of the world economy is causing pain. As I write the price of Brent Crude is at US$59.99. According to the Knoema[i] website, the break-even oil price ranges from US$149.90 in Venezuela to US$60.50 in Qatar. So, on that basis, almost no one is making money in oil right…
Low interest rates have incentivised borrowing in recent years. There has been little reason for companies to reduce their debt levels. Therefore, businesses in a range of sectors have leveraged up their balance sheets in order to improve shareholder returns. This has helped to boost profits and generated higher returns for investors. However, a more…
In my view, dividend investing is about more than simply buying a handful of high-yielding shares. I focus less on yield than most dividend investors and more on dividend growth. A long-term investment horizon dictates that a stock which can grow dividends quickly may be worth more than a company with a high yield. Fast-rising…
My initial recommendation for Solomon Gold (LON:SOLG) last March was based on a value of gold and copper ‘in the ground’ that its drilling was then targeting on just one part of its Ecuadorian Cascabel project, which looked – even at a conservative 1% – to be at least six times Solomon’s then market cap.…
The recovery in mining stocks took many by surprise in 2016. However, despite the renaissance, there is still a heavy weight of opinion against the mining sector. With this in mind, the contrarian in me is optimistic for continued outperformance in 2017. I know my writing here is too intermittent to update readers on investment…
