Gold

"Isabel, just look at the rand. It used to be pretty well pegged against the Australian dollar but that is history. It has lost 12% against the US dollar this year. It’s even fallen 20% against the Israeli shekel! We’ve got the strongest gold price in the decades and we can’t benefit because of bl***y Eskom....

"Everybody else who produces gold is benefiting! But, oh no, not South Africa!...

Talk about a rant! This was my brother, a director of a big international bank, on the state of the nation. Is South Africa going to the dogs then? "Isabel, I hope I’m wrong — but things aren’t looking good" ... Read More

Here is an optimist! This time the cheerful fellow is not even in the industry. He is a broker. And he thinks that 2008 will be another boom year for bids and deals despite the credit crunch.

It’s unusual for brokers to be so bullish. Especially analysts. They are renowned in the industry for being pessimistic, especially about prices. It has been the mining companies themselves who have been so confident that we’re still in a major revaluation cycle.

This is fantastic news, if Mr broker is right. It means there’s a chance of some money for the punters. Currently the miners are being pushed down to the bottom in stock market round-ups. No new news here! The deals on the board are all the old ones. Even though gold seems set to go through $1,000! ... Read More

A couple of weeks ago somebody came round to fix my brand new oven door. Believe it or not, it shattered into a million pieces while I was cooking Sunday lunch. The engineer happened to be Chinese and we got chatting about the Asian boom that is ramping up demand for commodities. I mentioned my South African roots. "Ah yes! The Chinese are very interested in Africa," he said. "And they are not as arrogant as Western governments, so it is easier to forge relationships in Africa." He was quick to add that this isn’t exactly new. After all, the Chinese first set foot in Africa in the early 15th Century — before the first Europeans! Allegedly there are now 750,000 Chinese scattered across the continent. There are 900 Chinese companies with interests in Africa, and last year they spent $10bn on African infrastructure development ... Read More

Isabel and I have been wondering whether it is time to move east. The world seems to be — well at least the wealth is. Gold statistics are showing the swing very clearly. This is boosting some gold markets quite unexpectedly. For instance, Turkey is emerging as a strong player in Russia's booming jewellery trade. An increase in business that might also help Turkey's gold miners and explorers.

There is nice clutch of companies with licences in Turkey. All the international ones seem to have sweet names. Eldorado Gold, Eurasian Minerals, Anatolia Minerals, Ariana Resources, Cloudbreak and Odyssey. The prime major over there, Newmont, sold its licences a while back. Discouraged by the old unfriendly mining laws, it decided to operate there through the local Turkish companies ... Read More

Late last month an email from Erin landed in my inbox. The atypical subject line caught my attention. Sex talks... What on earth could this have to do with the very serious subject of mining the precious metals!?

A lot it would appear! This was on REUTERS! So very serious, global and important, read the body of Erins email. Such is the shortage of qualified professionals, engineers, geologists, miners etc that they have to be treated like gold dust themselves. So now they have their own agony aunt!! ... Read More

"We have to see it as an adventure." My mother is referring to the two to four hours she is without electricity every day. The lights don’t even go out at a set time. "Sometimes it happens while I am cooking dinner," she tells me. "Good news for shops selling paraffin lamps. They are doing a roaring trade!"

For families and individuals being able to laugh at the impact of South Africa’s power crisis is one way of coping. But for big business finding humour in the situation is increasingly difficult ... Read More

So at long last BHP Billiton is realising its dream deal — a bid for RTZ. Its tough go-getting new CEO, Maurice Kloppers, is hoping to deliver on the long-held ambition of the world’s largest mining company - to get even bigger.

Kloppers has hardly had a chance to warm his seat! He has only been in the top job a mere five weeks. Not a total surprise to the market, however, this move. Given Kloppers’ style and track record his term of office was always likely to be an extremely aggressive one. High risk is to his taste ... Read More

India is truly the golden paradox. The world’s largest consumer and importer of gold — for long seemingly unbothered by all its own unexploited gold. A gold price approaching $800 is concentrating a few minds, however. India could get a gold mining industry yet. Government action is promised before next spring.

India does produce a bit of gold. Around three tons annually is the figure usually quoted. Miniscule compared to the 700-plus tonnes it consumes. Enough, you’d think to make the government notice the import bill. But up to now it hasn’t been bothered ... Read More

With all the focus on the World Cup Rugby it has been hard for Isabel not to focus on South Africa in recent weeks. Isabel’s uncle got his Springbok colours back in the 1980s, so she has a bit of a soft spot for the place. Are we finished talking about South Africa? Not quite. With all her contacts down there, things keep coming up that are interesting.

Let’s take AngloGold Ashanti as an example. It is, after all, the biggest producer in South Africa and the third biggest in the world! But if you need proof that not all South Africans are parochial, here it is. AngloGold is certainly doing some interesting things away from its home turf! ... Read More

What a shock for the people of North Down! There they were, spading over the flower beds for autumn, when the news broke. Dig deeper in the gardens of the affluent eastern coastal resort area of Northern Ireland and they’d find a load of gold and platinum. No-one is saying how much at this stage.

This is official, not just a tall tale. The news was broken by Economy Minister Nigel Dodds. Irish newspapers and TV gave it top slot ... Read More