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PLG probably a good buy here around $1...
Zenyatta, Graphite company that has been active this year...
Looks like a good one! GL!
Yep I have a buddy who loves CGR, unfortunately he loved it at $1...
I have it on watch, it's going to take a lot for the Juniors to come back...
Sorry Little Miners but You are in a Death Spiral!
Chinese housewives buy 300 tons of gold
May 2, 2013, 10:45 AM
They are numerous and thumbing their noses at Wall Street, evidently. And perhaps they offer some explanation for the turnaround in gold lately.
On Thursday, the Shanghai Daily reported on a “Voice of China” radio program that claimed Chinese housewives are propping up gold prices. The program said those women reportedly spent 100 billion yuan ($16 billion) over the past two weeks, buying up 300 tons of gold and helping keep prices steady at around $1,468 an ounce.
Putting it all in perspective nicely, blogger Max Keiser notes that while Chinese housewives were out scooping up gold, Americans sold $16.6 billion worth in the first four months of the year. (Read: Gold ETF loses No. 2 spot to emerging markets)
It’s not just housewives in China. The China Daily also reported Thursday that Hong Kong retailers were overwhelmed by all sorts of shoppers from the mainland seeking cheap gold over the three-day May Day holiday, with long lines outside gold shops, blocking streets and sidewalks. That echoes what happened in the wake of that historic gold drop on April 15, with shoppers reportedly swamping jewelry stores across Asia. Writing for the South China Morning Post on April 16, George Chen, whose penname is “Mr Shangkong,” wrote of China’s love affair with the shiny stuff.
“It is traditional for the older generation in China to buy gold products for the younger generation as gifts for various occasions, for example, when their children get married and have babies,” he noted. “Some analysts even joked that this time the war on gold prices may be a war between those big Western institutional investors like leading asset manager George Soros (who earlier in April said gold was no longer a safe haven) and Chinese retail investors, including many local housewives.”
But Chinese buyers are going up against Wall Street and some shaky sentiment for the metal.
Robert Jillies over at Sharps Pixley pointed out Thursday that there are plenty of warning signs for gold. He says upside risks for gold have increased as the price nears key $1,500 and $1,522 support levels. He sees a retest of $1,325 in the next few weeks, and notes that that instrumental rebound in physical demand is showing signs of tapering off.
“Gold remains in a bear market and typically, it will need time to find a strong base before embarking on a recovery,” says Jillies.
As for those Chinese housewives, this blogger was unable to listen to that original radio broadcast, but a few questions do come to mind. What exactly is the definition of “housewife” in China? Is she related to “Mrs Watanabe“, the mythical keeper of Japan’s household savings? What chunk of spending power in China does she represent? In other words, how much of a power shopper can gold prices count on here?
Statistical data from Catalyst showed as of late 2011, 71.1% of women between the ages of 18-64 were employed. So the housewife minority is propping up gold? Hmmm…
Here’s another look at the importance of buying gold in China, from a reader of blogger SilverDoctors who had moved there recently and spoke of the frenzy over the Chinese New Year for the shiny stuff. What has he learned? Chinese mothers don’t want vacuum cleaners for Christmas (Yeah? Join the crowd). They want silver or gold. Minimum $80 worth please.
ABX probably about time to buy...
Pension funds question Barrick pay deal as pressure builds
Fri Apr 19, 2013 2:00pm EDT
(adds details on Thornton; Glass Lewis comment)
By Euan Rocha, Julie Gordon and Allison Martell
(Reuters) - Barrick Gold Corp, already under pressure from setbacks at its largest development project and a slump in the price of gold, now faces a shareholder revolt over a "troubling" payment to a member of its board.
A group of Canada's top pension funds, small but significant shareholders in the world's largest gold miner, said on Friday it opposes Barrick's $11.9 million signing bonus for co-chairman John Thornton, the man tipped as the miner's next chairman.
"This compensation is inconsistent with the governance principle of pay-for-performance and is therefore disproportionate and sets a troubling precedent in Canadian capital markets," the group said in a statement.
Barrick has faced a raft of problems in the last few months, including a slumping gold price, and a partial halt to work at one of its main growth projects, Pascua-Lama, on the border of Argentina and Chile.
Shares of the company have fallen more than 37 percent this month and have more than halved in value over the last year.
The stock was down almost 1 percent on Friday, after the group of funds said it would vote against Barrick's advisory resolution on executive compensation and against the election of the members of the compensation committee at Barrick's annual meeting, on April 24 in Toronto when it will also report results.
Barrick declined comment on Friday, but in its proxy circular to shareholders ahead of next Wednesday's, Barrick said the advisory resolution on executive compensation is "not binding" on the board.
"The board and, in particular, the compensation committee will consider the outcome of the vote as part of its ongoing review of executive compensation," it added.
SHAREHOLDER REVOLT
Thornton, widely expected to succeed Barrick founder and Chairman Peter Munk, has been a director of the company since February, 2012 and is also on the boards of China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd, HSBC Holdings, and Ford Motor Co .
A former president at Goldman Sachs, he has also served on the boards of News Corp and Intel Corp , among others.
In a letter to shareholders released in March, Munk said it was time for Barrick to "consider a path to new leadership at our board level." He listed the qualifications Barrick was looking for, and singled out Thornton as his likely successor.
The pension funds are not alone in expressing concern about payments from Barrick. Earlier this month, proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis, advised its clients to vote against Barrick's executive compensation plan.
"We believe shareholders should question the nature of these payments and if it is the best use of the company's capital, particularly following the company's results for the year," Glass Lewis said in its April. 6 report.
Barrick reported a net loss of $665 million in 2012, due to a large writedown. Excluding items, the company reported profits of $3.83 billion, down from $4.67 billion, a year earlier.
The group of funds opposing the payments comprises Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, as well as Alberta Investment Management Corp; British Columbia Investment Management Corp; Hermes Equity Ownership Services; Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System; and Public Sector Pension Investment Board.
The group represents about 3.46 percent of Barrick's ownership, or some 34.8 million shares outstanding, according to Thomson Reuters data and fund disclosures. That stake was worth around $640 million at Thursday's closing price of C$18.44. (Additional reporting by Andrea Hopkins; Editing by Janet Guttsman and Dan Grebler)
About the same out of PAL...
PLG not a bad call if I do say so myself...
PLG cheap baby Platinum/Palladium producer that George Soros has a piece of, coming on line in 2014. Most on CNBC won't shutup on how Palladium is going to explode soon...
At the bottom on the chart, good long termer imo...
http://www.platinumgroupmetals.net/_resources/presentation/PTM_Corporate_Presentation_December_2012.pdf
SANP...New miner on the move with heavy volume coming in. It looks like some type of promo, So it could "trap door" at anytime. Looks like 63 Million Outstanding with a 25 Million float.
MJX.v, mjxff.pk,
Charts on the move...
SLV and GLD charts
yeah i just went through the charts and they are terrible...
Except UAMY
Hey M, I'm hearing there's some nice buzz going around about this one!
THM - Daily Candlesticks
Chart Woulfe Mining WFEMF.pk
