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“Wrestling with Something Else”: Why this Gold Bear Market Is Different

May 15, 2015May 15, 2015lawrieongoldLeave a comment

By Frank Holmes*

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure to appear on Jim Puplava’s Financial Sense Newshour radio program and discuss the state of the gold market. Along with my peers John Doody of the Gold Stock Analyst and Ross Hansen of Northwest Territorial Mint, I shared my thoughts on how we arrived in the current bear market, what factors might help us get out of it and the role real interest rates play in prices.

Below I’ve highlighted a few of my responses to Jim’s questions.

Q: Let’s begin with the bear market that began in 2011. Two questions I’d like you to answer. Number one: What do you believe caused it? Number two: Do you think this is cyclical or a secular bear market?

A: As I often say, two factors drive gold: the Love Trade and the Fear Trade.

In 1997 and 1998, the bottom of the emerging market meltdown took place. Four years later, we saw China and Asia starting to take off and GDP per capita rise. This is an important factor in this whole run-up that I would characterize as the Love Trade. A strong correlation is rising GDP per capita, and in China, India and the Middle East, they buy gold and many gifts of love.

We saw the Fear Trade starting to take place after 9/11. The biggest factor behind the Fear Trade is negative real interest rates. So when you had both—negative real interest rates and rising GDP per capita in the emerging countries—you had gold demand going to record numbers.

At the very peak of 2011, the dollar had just been basically downgraded by Moody’s and we had negative interest rates on a 10-year government bond. It was a record negative real rate of return, like in the ‘70s. You saw this spending from the Fear Trade, but this Love Trade was in negative real interest rates.

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Since then, the U.S. has gone positive. But we’re seeing that in Europe, gold is taking off in euro terms, and in Japan it’s taking off in yen terms. They’re running at negative real interest rates the way we were on a relative basis up to 2011.

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Q: So would you define this bear market as a cyclical bear market, a correction in a long-term trend, or would you define it as secular very much in the way that we experienced the price of gold between, let’s say, the 1980s and 1990s?

A: I think that we’re wrestling with something else. When we look at the other basic metals, what drives the demand for iron, copper, anything that makes steel? It’s fiscal policies. Huge infrastructure spending and fiscal policies. What’s happened since 2011—and after the crash of 2008 but particularly in 2011—is that when the G20 central bankers get together, they don’t talk about trade. It’s all about tax and regulation. They have to keep interest rates low to try to compete, to try to get exports up, to drive their economies. That is a big difference on the need for all these commodities, and it seems to have ended the bull market. Until we get global fiscal policies up and increase infrastructure building, then I have to turn around and look the other way, and say it’s going to take a while.

I do think that gold is going through a bear market. A lot of it has to do more with the central bankers and everything they try to do to discredit gold as an asset class, at the same time try to keep interest rates low to keep economic activity going strong. That’s been a much different factor in driving the price of gold.

The other thing that’s been fascinating is this shift of gold from North America to Switzerland to China. The Chinese have a strategy for the renminbi. Not only do they have 200 million people buying gold on a monthly program throughout their banking system, but the government is buying gold because it needs to back the renminbi to make it a world-class currency of trade.

The Great Tectonic Shift of Physical Gold From West to East

Q: Explain two things: one, why we never saw the hyper-inflation that people thought we were going to see with the massive amounts of quantitative easing (QE), and two, investor preferences changing from hard assets into stocks.

A: Well first of all, a lot of money didn’t really go directly into the economy. We never had a huge spike in credit supply in 2011, ’12, ’13. Only in ’14 did we start to see it really pick up.

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We never got this big inflation some expected because the money is so difficult, outside of getting a car loan or an extension on a house. Even Ben Bernanke, after he left the Federal Reserve, had trouble refinancing his house following his own procedures. It’s extremely onerous to get a loan.

I think the biggest part is to follow the money. And where is the money going? It’s showing up in stocks. When I look at gold stocks, it’s amazing to see that the indexes are down since 2011, but a basket of the royalty companies is positive. So why is money finding its way to them? What are the factors driving that? Well, not only do they have free cash flow, but they also have a higher profit margin and they’ve been raising their dividends. Franco-Nevada again just raised its dividend. Since 2011, the dividend yield on Franco-Nevada and Royal Gold has been higher than a 5-year government bond and many times higher than a 10-year government bond. So money all of a sudden starts going for that yield and growth.

Q: What’s happened to the industry since the downturn began in 2011?

A: Well, when you take a look at the big run we had until 2006, we had very strong cash flow returns on invested capital. We had expanding free cash flow. And then a lot of the mining companies lost their focus on growth on a per-share basis. They kept doing these acquisitions, which made a company go from “$1 billion to $2 billion in revenue.” However, the cost of that meant that there was less gold per share in production and there were less reserves per share. You had this run-up in the cost for equipment, for exploration, for development. The result was you had seven majors lose their CEOs. And in the junior to mid-cap size, you probably had another 20 in which management was thrown out.

The new management is much more focused on capital returns. They have to be. Otherwise they get criticized. That will hold a lot of these managements accountable, and I think that’s very healthy. And now it’s starting to show up that the returns on capital are improving for several of these companies.

Today, gold mining company management is much focused on capital returns.

Q: What would you be doing with money right now if you were to be in the gold market? How much would you put in the gold market? How would you have that money invested.

A: I’ve always advocated 10 percent and rebalance every year. Five percent would go into gold bullion, coins, gold jewelry—you travel around the world and you can buy gorgeous gold jewelry at basically no mark-up compared to the mark-up on Fifth Avenue. The other 5 percent is in gold stocks, and if it’s a basket of these royalty companies, I think you’ll do well over time, and you rebalance.

If not, then you go to an active manager, like we have. Speaking from a buyer’s position, Ralph Aldis— portfolio manager of our Gold and Precious Metals Fund (USERX) and World Precious Minerals Fund (UNWPX)—is a TopGun ranked in Canada as an active manager.

Q: Explain your caution in terms of gold in the percentage you recommend.

A: I’ve always looked at gold as being a hedge from the imbalance of government policies. Having that 10-percent weighting and rebalancing every year might help protect your overall portfolio. There are many studies going back 30 years that show that rebalancing helps.

It’s also advisable to put half your money in dividend-paying blue chip stocks that are increasing their revenue. When there are great years in the stock market, people often take some profits. And when gold’s down, as it is now, it might be time to put money in gold and gold equities.

For more, listen to the entire interview.

*Frank Holmes is CEO and Chief Investment Officer for U.S. Global Investors – www.usfunds.com

Junior Mining Companies Have Taken a Senior Role

April 21, 2015lawrieongoldLeave a comment

By Frank Holmes

Smaller-cap explorers and producers are generating greater wealth for investors

For the past decade, junior mining companies have outperformed senior miners at finding new mineral deposits and generating wealth for investors.

These are among some of the findings released in a study conducted by resource company strategist MinEx Consulting, which analyzed the performance of explorers and producers operating in Canada between 1975 and 2014. What the consultancy firm found is that, in the last decade, junior companies were responsible for more than three quarters of all new mineral discoveries and were approximately 30 percent more effective than senior companies at generating wealth.

Ralph Aldis, portfolio manager of our two precious metals funds— the World Precious Minerals Fund (UNWPX) and Gold and Precious Metals Fund (USERX), which holds four stars overall from Morningstar, among 71 Equity Precious Metals funds as of 3/31/2015, based on risk-adjusted returns—agrees with the results of the study. In a March interview with The Gold Report, he noted that junior gold producers “have the flexibility to be able to adjust” to varying commodity-price conditions.

“It’s the smaller, midsized companies that have a better handle on their operations,” Ralph said.

A good example of such a small-cap miner would be Claude Resources Inc., which we own in both USERX and UNWPX. Claude, the only producer operating in Saskatchewan, Canada, managed to turn its operation around fairly quickly after netting a huge loss of $73 million in 2013. The company just reported a profit of $4.6 million in 2014, driven by “record production performance,” according to President and CEO Brian Skanderbeg. For the one-year period, the company is up a phenomenal 216 percent.

“Claude has been around for a long time, but its new management understood that it had to change its mining method, which has made a big difference,” Ralph said in The Gold Report.

Junior companies have increasingly played an essential exploratory role in Canada. Nearly 40 years ago, they were responsible for only 5 percent of all capital spent on exploration; by 2007, that amount had ballooned to more than 65 percent. Over the past decade, juniors have accounted for 54 percent of all spending on exploration in Canada.

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As a result, major producers have steadily lost ground to the smaller players in terms of discovering new mineral deposits. In three of the previous 10 years, in fact—2009, 2010 and 2012—senior companies failed to make a single new discovery.

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Quality or Quantity? How about Both?

Frank Holmes in the copper Mountain Mine in Princeton, British Columbia

Not all mineral deposits are created equal, of course. Some might be all a producer needs to be successful, whereas others aren’t even worth the time and capital to develop.

You can think of a Tier 1 deposit as a “company making” mine—one that might yield up to 250,000 ounces of gold per year over its lifespan of 20 years or more. Some of these projects can easily be valued at over $1 billion.

A Tier 2 deposit is significant but not as profitable as a Tier 1, with a typical valuation of between $200 million and $1 billion.

Finally, a Tier 3 deposit is considered marginal, valued at anywhere between $0 and $200 million.

About 80 percent of the mining industry’s wealth is generated from Tier 1 and Tier 2 projects. But such discoveries, as you might imagine, are muchrarer than Tier 3s. To give you an idea of just how rare they are, consider this: Every decade in Canada, the industry discovers on average 40 Tier 3 deposits, seven Tier 2 deposits—and only three Tier 1 deposits.

So how do the juniors stack up against the seniors when it comes to finding quality mines? In the table below, you can see that they’re running slightly behind. In the past decade, juniors made 7.3 Tier 1 or 2 discoveries in Canada, compared to the seniors’ 8.7.

Spend and Performance in Canada: 2005 – 2014
	Exploration Spend in Billions		Number of Discoveries		Tier 1 and 2 Discoveries		Estimated Value of Discoveries, in Billions		Value/Spend
Seniors	$12.5	46%	21	24%	8.7	54%	$7.9	39%	0.63
Juniors	$14.6	54%	66	76%	7.3	46%	$12.1	61%	0.83
Past performance does not guarantee future results. Source: MinEx Consulting, U.S. Global Investors

But—and this is a big “but”—they handily beat the seniors when it came to the total number of discoveries. Of all the deposits found, over three quarters were made by junior miners.

As I said earlier, juniors spent more than the seniors on exploration during this timeframe ($14.6 billion compared to $12.5 billion), and their discoveries collectively had a much higher valuation ($12.1 billion compared to $7.9 billion). Accordingly, they were roughly 30 percent more effective than seniors at generating wealth for investors. Put another way, they had a greater “bang for your buck.”

Small Cap, Big Opportunities

This news bodes well for our two precious metals funds. Although they both invest in junior explorers and producers, the Gold and Precious Metals Fund also allocates assets to the large-cap, senior mining companies.

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Not only that, but Canada is the top investment destination in both funds: 57 percent in USERX, 77 percent in UNWPX. Canadian mining companies have lately seen margin expansion because the majority of their costs are in the relatively weak Canadian dollar, yet they sell their commodities in the strong U.S. dollar.

According to MinEx, 19 percent of the world’s high-quality Tier 1 and 2 mineral discoveries were made in Canada between 2005 and 2014. That’s second only to the entire continent of Africa (25 percent). The country’s mining industry also has an estimated value of $19 billion, or 21 percent of total valuation worldwide. At 0.77, Canada’s value-spend ratio, or “bang for your buck,” was better than the global average of 0.67.

frank Holmes is CEO and Chief Investment Advisor for U.S. Global Investors – http://www.usfunds.com

The Fed, the Fear Trade and Gold – Frank Holmes

March 20, 2015lawrieongoldLeave a comment

Latest thoughts from Frank Holmes, CEO and chief investment officer of U.S. Global Investors – www.usfunds.com

Following the recent Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen made it clear (again) that interest rates would not be raised until inflation gains more steam. With current inflation rates negative for the first time since 2009, and with the U.S. dollar index at an 11-year high, we can probably expect near-record-low interest rates for some time longer.

With the Dollar index at an 11-yeah high, gold prices are under a lot of pressure

Along with major stock indices, gold prices immediately spiked at Yellen’s news, rising nearly 2 percent, from $1,151 to $1,172. That’s the largest one-day move we’ve seen from the yellow metal in at least two months.

It’s also a prime example of gold’s Fear Trade, which occurs when investors buy gold out of fear of war or concern over changes in government policy.

As I’ve frequently discussed, one of gold’s main drivers is the strength of the U.S. dollar. The two have an historical inverse relationship, as you can see below.

Strong Dollar Weighs on Gold

In September 2011, when gold hit its all-time high of $1,921, the dollar index was at a low, low 73. With the dollar having recently broken above 100, although since fallen back a little, the yellow metal sits under a lot of pressure. However, I’m pleased at how well it’s held up compared to the early 1980s, when gold plunged 65 percent from its peak of $850 per ounce as the U.S. currency began to strengthen.

We’re seeing the opposite effect in the eurozone as well as other regions around the world. In the last 11 months, the euro has slipped 24 percent. Many analysts, in fact, expect the euro to fall below the dollar for the first time.

When priced in this weakening currency, gold has climbed to a two-year high.

Gold Prices in Euro Terms Strengthens as the Currency Falls

Inflation consumes the returns on your five-year treasury bond As I write in last year’s special gold report, “How Government Policies Affect Gold’s Fear Trade”:

One of the strongest drivers of the Fear Trade in gold is real interest rates. Whenever a country has negative-to-low real rates of return, which means the inflationary rate (CPI) is greater than the current interest rate, gold tends to rise in that country’s currency.

To illustrate this point, take a look at the current five-year Treasury yield and subtract from it the consumer price index (CPI), or the inflationary number. You get either a positive or negative real interest rate.

When that number is negative, gold has tended to be strong. And when it’s positive, gold has in the past been weak.

This month, real interest rates in the U.S. have turned massively positive, putting additional downward pressure on the yellow metal.

When you look at the yield on a five-year Treasury bond in March 2013, you see that it was 0.88 percent. Take away 1.5 percent inflation, and investors were getting a negative real return of 0.6 percent. This made gold a much more attractive and competitive asset to invest in. March 2013, by the way, was the last time we saw gold above $1,600 per ounce.

Because inflation is in negative territory right now, returns on the five-year Treasury are higher than they’ve been in several quarters. Compared to many other government bonds worldwide, the U.S. five-year Treasury is actually one of the very few whose yields are positive, which tarnishes gold’s appeal somewhat as an investment.

The following oscillator for the five-year period gives you another way to look at the strong inverse relationship between the five-year Treasury bond and gold. As if locked in a synchronized dance, each asset class swings when the other one sways, and vice versa.

HOw real interest rates drive gold

This is why it’s so important to manage expectations.

As Ralph Aldis, portfolio manager of our two precious metals funds, said in our most recent Shareholder Report:

You need to use gold for what it’s best at: portfolio diversification… You have to be a bit of contrarian. Buy it when everybody hates it, sell it when everybody loves it. Our suggestion is to have 5 to 10 percent of your portfolio in gold or gold stocks and rebalance once a year. You might also get some additional benefits by rebalancing quarterly. That’s like playing chess with the market as opposed to rolling craps.

Mind blowing stats: China consuming more gold than world producing

February 20, 2015lawrieongoldLeave a comment

Mind-Blowing: China Consumes More Gold Than the World Produces

Frank Holmes’ take on the huge pre-Chinese New Year demand figures as shown by the Shanghai Gold Exchange where withdrawals in the first six weeks of the year have totalled a ‘mind-blowing’ 374 tonnes.

Welcome to the year 4713. Or, if you prefer, the Year of the Ram.

The Chinese New Year, which kicks off today, is the largest and most widespread cultural event in mainland China, bringing with it massive consumer spending and gift-giving. During this week alone, an estimated 3.6 billion people in the China region travel by road, rail and air in the largest annual human migration.

Imagine half a dozen Thanksgivings and Christmases all rolled into one mega-holiday, and you might begin to get a sense of just how significant the Chinese New Year festivities and traditions are.

According to the National Retail Federation, China spent approximately $100 billion on retail and restaurants during the Chinese New Year in 2014. That’s double what Americans shelled out during the four-day Thanksgiving and Black Friday spending period.

As I’ve discussed on numerous occasions, one of the most popular gifts to give and receive during this time is gold—a prime example of the Love Trade.

Can’t Keep Gold Down

Most loyal readers of my Frank Talk blog know that China, along with India, leads the world in gold demand. This Chinese New Year is no exception. Official “Year of the Ram” gold coins sold out days ago, and since the beginning of January, withdrawals from the Shanghai Gold Exchange have grown to over 315 tonnes, exceeding the 300 tonnes of newly-mined gold around the globe during the same period. (Editor’s Note: Since Frank penned this article week 6 Chinese demand figures as presented by the Shanghai Gold Exchange surged by another 59 tonnes to total 374 tonnes in the six week runup to the Chinese New Year)

China, in other words, is consuming more gold than the world is producing.

What’s not so well-known—but just as amazing—is that China’s supply of the precious metal per capita is actually low compared to neighboring Asian countries such as Taiwan and Singapore.

The World Gold Council (WGC), in fact, calls China “a huge, relatively untapped reservoir of gold demand.”

This might all change as more and more Chinese citizens move up the socioeconomic ladder. Over the next five years, the country’s middle class is projected to swell from 300 million to 500 million—nearly 200 million more people than the entire population of the United States. This should help boost gold bullion and jewelry sales in China, which fell 33 percent from the previous year.

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“I don’t see demand staying down because you have had structural changes,” commented WGC Head of Investment Research Juan Carlos Artigas in an interview with Hard Assets Investor. “One of them, emerging market demand from the likes of India and China, continues to grow, and we expect it to continue to grow as those economies develop further.”

New Visa Policy Promises Increased Chinese Tourism

The Year of the Ram has also ushered in a new visa policy, one that has the potential to draw many more Chinese tourists to American shores.

For years, Chinese citizens could receive only a one-year, multi-entry visa. Now, leisure and business travelers can obtain a visa that allows them to enter multiple times over a 10-year period. The visa application process has also been relaxed.

American companies to benefit from greater influx of Chinese tourists In terms of overseas spending, Chinese tourists already sit in first place, just above their American counterparts. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, a record $129 billion was spent by Chinese travelers in 2013 alone. The average Chinese visitor spends between $6,000 and $7,200 per trip in the U.S.

This visa policy reform is an obvious boon to travel and leisure companies such as those held in our All American Equity Fund (GBTFX)—Walt Disney and Carnival Corp., for examples, not to mention retailers such as Kohl’s, Coach and The Gap.

Other beneficiaries include Chinese airlines such as Air China, which we own in our China Region Fund (USCOX). Global airline stocks are currently soaring as a result of low oil prices, increased seat capacity and more fuel-efficient aircraft. The new visa policy has the potential to give these stocks an even stronger boost.

On a lighter note, at least a couple of airports in North America are making the most of the Chinese New Year, hosting performances by Chinese musical artists and providing entertainment such as a lion dance through the terminal and calligraphy.

To our friends and shareholders here in the U.S. and abroad, I wish you all a Happy Chinese New Year!

Africa Could Mine Its Way to Prosperity if It Addressed Instability

February 18, 2015lawrieongold1 Comment

Frank Holmes of U.S. Global Investors gives us his views on investing in African mining following his vist to Cape Town last week for the Mining Indaba and what governments need to do to help encourage it.

Last week I attended the Investing in African Mining Indaba in Cape Town, South Africa, as both a presenter and a student seeking opportunities. One of the highlights of the conference was former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s keynote address, during which he offered some crucial advice to African governments: To attract and foster a robust mining sector, a commitment to fiscal stability must be made.

Since 2009, Blair has run the Africa Governance Initiative, which counsels leaders in countries such as Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and others.

Simply put, without fiscal stability and predictability in taxation, capital will be unwilling to flow into any country—African or otherwise—for exploration and production. If a government changes its tax policy every three years or so, that instability discourages the inflow of financing. This is bad for Africa.

“The mining sector remains absolutely vital for Africa’s future,” Blair said, “and even with the sharp declines in [commodity] prices, there are tremendous opportunities and there will be, no doubt, an adjustment and reshaping of the face of mining within Africa over these next few years.”

I shared the following map last week, but it’s worth showing again, as it supports Blair’s point. Central and Southern Africa, especially, are extremely commodity-rich and maintain a large global share of important metals and minerals such as platinum, diamonds and gold.

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Fiscal instability is also bad for investors in Africa. If foreign investment is not respected by a government, if it is punitively taxed or arbitrarily confiscated, further investment will not flow into that country. Politically, African nations need to recognize that seemingly faceless investment institutions represent real people’s hard earned dollars.

In Zambia, for example, a huge 12 percent of the country’s GDP comes from mining, an industry that employs 10 percent of all Zambians. Yet its government has increased, rather than cut or at least eased, restrictive royalty taxes on mines. In the case of open pit mines, royalties were raised from 6 percent to a crippling 20 percent.

Speaking to Reuters, a mining industry spokesperson speculated: “Mining companies are not going to put another dollar in [Zambia]” if the government continues to be unreliable.

Less Friction, Fewer Disruptions

This is proof positive of what I frequently say: Government policy is a precursor to change. In the example above, the tax policy is leading to change that could very well hurt Zambia’s economy. With mining being such a strong contributor to its GDP, it seems the government would want to make it easier, not more challenging and costly, for international producers to conduct business there.

The less friction and fewer disruptions there are, the easier it is for money to flow.

But Zambia’s isn’t the only African government that’s placing roadblocks in front of miners. The Democratic Republic of Congo is in the early stages of hiking royalties on mines and revising its mining code. And in his recent State of the Nation Address, South African President Jacob Zuma announced that foreigners could no longer own land in the country, which raises the question of what implications, if any, this might have on U.S. and Canadian companies that own and operate South African mines. Zuma’s announcement comes at a time when persistent electricity shortages have stymied mining activity and rumblings of a miners’ strike similar to the one last year that brought platinum and palladium production to a five-month halt are intensifying.

At the same time, many governments in Africa are waking up to see that they’re going to have to provide the sort of stability and consistency Prime Minister Blair outlined if they hope to attract the capital necessary to fund and develop their mining opportunities.

Miners Giving Back

A strong mining sector doesn’t just benefit the native country, either. It’s a global good that benefits all. In another presentation at the African Mining Indaba, Terry Heymann of the World Gold Council convincingly showed that the economic output of the global gold mining sector far exceeds the collective aid budget of world governments. Gold mining, he said, created and moved as much as $47.3 billion to suppliers, businesses and communities in 2013, compared to governments’ $37.4 billion.

Many gold mining companies take a more direct approach to helping the communities in the countries they operate in, including Randgold Resources, which works primarily in Mali. In an interview during the African Mining Indaba, CEO Mark Bristow detailed his company’s involvement in the fight against Ebola and other epidemics that have hit the West African country:

Our doctors, the Randgold doctors, run a technical committee meeting every day where we coordinate with the [Malian] health authorities, and we help manage the deployment of energy. Now that we’ve eradicated the second [Ebola] outbreak, our big focus is on prevention and education.

Bristow explained that the company had sponsored the development of an educational film about Ebola, before highlighting other company achievements:

We were part of the Neglected Tropical Disease Initiative rollout… We’re very big on the AIDS programs around the country. We brought the malaria incident rate around our mines down by more than four times.

Because Randgold is the largest employer in Mali, Bristow suggested, he feels a moral obligation to partner with his host country and make it a healthier, safer place to live and work.

During the same interview, he insisted that Randgold, which we hold in our Gold and Precious Metals Fund (USERX) and World Precious Minerals Fund (UNWPX), has a “solid five years ahead of us,” citing the fact that the company holds no debt and managed to replace all the ounces it mined in 2014 at $1,000 long-term gold price. It also increased its dividend 20 percent.

Despite bullion’s price hovering just above the relatively low $1,230 range, Randgold has delivered 16 percent year-to-date.

This is in line with gold mining stocks in both the NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index and FTSE Gold Mines Index, which are outperforming the return on bullion.

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As I mentioned back in July, when mining stocks do well, bullion has tended to follow suit. This also shows that producers are successfully adjusting to a $1,200-per-ounce environment by scaling back on capital spending, selling off assets, putting exploration on hold and engaging in mergers and acquisitions—which in the past has signaled that a bottom in spot prices might be reached. B2Gold Corp. closed on its deal to buy Papillon Resources in October; we learned in November that Osisko Gold Royalties is taking over Virginia Mines; and last month it was announced that Goldcorp would bepurchasing Probe Mines.

Weak Currencies, Low Fuel Prices

Speaking with Kitco News’s Daniela Cambone during last Monday’s Gold Game Film, I commented on some of the macro events aiding gold mining companies such as Randgold:

Mark Bristow has just hit the ball out of the park. He benefits from a weak Mali currency and he benefits from a weak euro because everything is priced in euros. He’s also benefited from weak oil prices.

Indeed, many miners not operating in the U.S. are the beneficiaries of a weak local currency. The West African CFA franc, Mali’s currency, is off 20 percent; the South African rand, 40 percent; the Canadian dollar, 15 percent.

Low energy prices are also helping gold producers, just as they’re helping companies in other industries, airlines especially. In most cases, fuel accounts for between 20 and 30 percent of gold miners’ total operating costs. Because Brent oil is currently priced around $60 per barrel, gold producers are seeing significant savings.

The Gold Demand

This Thursday marks the Chinese New Year, a traditional occasion for gold gift-giving. Chinese demand for the yellow metal was strong in 2014, as 800 tonnes flowed into the country. Over half of the global gold demand, in fact, was driven by the world’s two largest markets, China and India.

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Historically low real interest rates are also driving investors into gold and gold stocks. As I told Daniela:

When you look at real interest rates out of the G7 and G10 countries, the only one with a modest increase is the U.S. dollar. Any time you get this negative real interest rate scenario, gold starts to rally in those countries’ currencies. Now what’s really dynamite is the gold mining companies like Goldcorp, which pays a dividend higher than a 5-year government bond.

Gold great value protector in 2014 but silver tanked

December 31, 2014January 1, 2015lawrieongoldLeave a comment

LBMA Gold price end 2013: US$1201.50; Gold price end 2014: US$1199.00.

Lawrence Williams

LBMA Gold price end 2013: US$ 1201.50; Gold price end 2014: $1199.25 – only down a minute 0.19% over the year Thus, by effectively marking time vis-a-vis the US dollar over the full year gold outperformed virtually all other currencies in maintenance of value. Frank Holmes of U.S. Global Investors pointed this out neatly with the graph below in a recent article – but maybe he jumped the gun a little producing the graph just before the final year-end London gold price was set, with gold making a small recovery in the interim to bring it even closer to its 2013 closing figure (LBMA Fix – or London Gold Price as it is now called). However, the spot price did fall back to the $1180s after the final London price for the year was set. Indeed its LBMA afternoon price on December 30^th at $1206 was actually 0.4% higher than its 2013 close but something of a dollar rally on the morning of the 31^st brought it down a little. See Frank’s chart below comparing key currency performance with that of the U.S. dollar over the year. To read his full original article click on Gold Beat All Other World Currencies in 2014.

Most gold investors will probably have considered 2014 a poor year with gold making early-year moves upwards before coming back down again in the latter part. But if one looks at the strength of the US dollar (or perhaps this should be the weakness of other currencies vs the dollar) with the dollar index rising 12.4% over the year, an investment in gold in any other currency will have seen an increase of above this percentage over the year. And if one lives in Russia or Argentina the percentage increase would have been large indeed! Gold has thus, over 2014, performed extremely well as a wealth protector. As an example – in Swiss Francs the gold price actually rose 9.5% over the year. In the Russian ruble it rose no less than 77% over the period. Perhaps we are far too focused on gold’s US dollar performance to see its real value for those outside the USA. Sometimes one needs to take a step back and look at other valuation parameters.

For the time being at least, gold seems to have found a price equilibrium at, or around the $1200/ounce level. We might argue that this is the kind of level China is comfortable with – see: Path of the gold price is in China’s hands. Whether China is, or is not, keeping the price at this level is obviously open to speculation, but it certainly has the capability of so doing and with so many of its citizens holding gold it may well have a strong interest in keeping prices relatively stable.

It is also widely believed that China is building its national gold reserve without reporting it to the IMF, and that this gold reserve is now very comfortably above the official 1,054 tonnes which it has claimed to have had for the past six years since its last upwards valuation. But this again remains as speculation until and unless China reports another reserve increase. The thought is that it may refrain from doing so until its gold reserve matches the official reserve of the U.S.A. north of 8,000 tonnes.

By comparison, silver investors have had a pretty dismal year. Of the countries featured in Frank Holmes’ chart above, only silver investors in Russia and Argentina will have seen value protection in their own currencies. Again, as we pointed out here recently silver investors take much more of a gamble than those investing in gold given the white metal’s vastly increased volatility over its yellow sibling. See: Silver in 2015 – the gambler’s precious metal. But even so, this year’s silver price performance, or lack of it could be considered remarkable vis-à-vis gold with which it usually has a closer relationship. By many calculations silver is currently in a supply deficit, but this seems to have had no positive effect on price movement. The key price drivers at the moment are purely speculative and as a much smaller market than gold, speculators have a far easier path to price manipulation than gold – and the general belief nowadays is that the gold price is being manipulated too by mega-money players. If the manipulation premise is correct, then the gamble therefore with silver is in picking the point at which the speculators change tack to make huge profits on an upturn. Maybe this point is near, but relying on this is not for widows and orphans.