Gold Exploration in West Africa

[FL]

Australian W.Africa gold explorers doing poorly

I looked at charts of the West Africa gold explorer stocks (that I'm aware of) traded on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX; see http://www.asx.com.au/ ). These are

Adamus Resources ADU
Australian United Gold AUL
Caspian Oil and Gas CIG
Equigold EQI
Investika IVK
Perseus Mining PRU
Resolute Mining RSG
Takoradi TKG

All have had serious price declines. The one Australian company operating in Ghana that's an exception is Red Back, which is doing pretty well due to its Chirano property, but Red Back now trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange as RBI.

A few of these Australian-traded explorers border on the absurd, with prices around or below one Australian penny per share and zillions of shares outstanding. Also, calling some of them "explorers" is a little loose since some just have residual or and/or dormant licenses or properties in West Africa. Others, like Adamus or Resolute, are serious and active gold explorers.

I haven't found that Australia's mining giant BHP Billiton still has any gold interests in West Africa.

FL