There has been a bit of argy bargy re Australia’s Gold Coast property values….

I thought I’d muck things up with some real data as opposed to conjecture….I’ve just checked one of Australia’s top real estate data sources…. here are the actual figures…

Capital growth in Median prices of Gold Coast HOUSES
2007 12.9%
2008 4.0%
2009 -8.7%
2010 12.3%
2011 -1.3%

Capital growth in Median prices of Gold Coast UNITS
2007 8.6%
2008 1.3%
2009 -4.9%
2010 5.7%
2011 -4.4%

Capital growth in Median prices of Gold Coast LAND
2007 39.2%
2008 -13.3%
2009 -5.7%
2010 60.8%
2011 2.5%

These figures don’t show anything very alarming for Gold Coast Houses with a net gain over the last 4.3 years of 19.2%. But I wish I had bought more land 🙂

Focus’ Treasure Island lives up to its name and FML now has 100%. FML’s Black Dog redefines the term with excellent early results… no depression there

While Ramelius’ (RMS) deep drilling brings out bonanza grades…

what a happy day 🙂

I hold RMS and FML and I’m delighted that I don’t have to go to Africa to get my gold goodies….

(FML could turn out to be a major new gold producer -near term)

See earlier posts re FML

See earlier posts about Ramelius

I think it is perhaps a mute point but both Silver and Gold are breaking out to the upside….
Personally I think it is silver leading gold… but whatever according to C Twiggs they are on their way…
(Those that know me will be surprised to see me posting charts… as I have often said I drive by looking through the windscreen not via the rear view mirror but…..)

But if you have to follow a chartist then C Twiggs is a good go to resource…. I sneak a peek every day he sends his emails… 🙂

Those that follow this blog may remember a few months ago I posted several times about Ramelius ASX:RMS…. the story below confirms my expectations….

Gold miner Ramelius Resources Ltd has more than tripled its first half net profit after a four-fold rise in revenue from gold sales.

Net profit for the six months to December 31 was $32.29 million, up from $10.07 million for the previous corresponding period.

Sales of gold from its Wattle Dam mine, near Kambalda in Western Australia, totalled $83.66 million compared to $20.61 million for the first half of 2009/10.

The average gold sales price was $A1,387.48 per ounce, up from $A1,249.42 per ounce.

Ramelius ended December with $75.63 million cash on hand, compared with $21.46 million at the end of 2009.

Read the full AAP article

In order of Silver JORC Resources
Our top three:
BHP
UCL
CJO

Bit of a surprise ?

The silver price has bounced 27% since January 28, a huge advance for a measly 16 trading days. It’s already soared past its 2010 high and was selling for less than $16 this time last year, a double in 12 months. So, is it pricy? Or should we ignore the run-up and keep buying? http://seekingalpha.com/article/254372-why-i-m-buying-silver-at-30

I read the article above and I’d like to see silver do what the author suggests… I have a largish silver position accumulated over the last decade… my average price is $5 AUD per OZ.

Recently my advisor told me that I was mad to not get out with such a lovely profit… As I believe that there is a lot more upside (history repeats) I have protected my position with “puts”.  I thought I’d mention this as it wasn’t referenced in the article above… but by buying puts you can set your level of risk tolerance…. Do it now while everyone is bullish. Buy calls when they are all bearish…. Insurance lets you sleep at night 🙂

PRECIOUS-Gold up, silver ETF gains as price near 31-yr high
Reuters
TOKYO, Feb 21 (Reuters) – Gold inched up on Monday, adding to a weekly gain of nearly 3 percent last week as fears over a European debt crisis and growing unrest in the Middle East underpinned investor sentiment. * Spot gold XAU= was steady at $1390.50 …
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Gold Price Surges Amid Turmoil in Libya
GoldAlert
The gold price closed in on $1400 per ounce late Sunday night as violence in Libya helped propel the yellow metal higher. A revolt against Libya’s leader Qaddafi sparked concern that tensions in the region were spreading outside of Egypt and dictators …
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Oil, Gold Gain as Asian Stocks Decline on Middle East Tensions
San Francisco Chronicle
… percent and Korea Zinc Co., which produces gold and silver, rallying 2.7 percent. PetroChina Co. added 1 percent in Shanghai trading after the National Development and Reform Commission boosted gasoline and diesel prices by as much as 4.6 percent.
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MidEast tensions weigh on sentiment
Financial Times
Commodities – Silver has pushed above $33 for the first time in 30 years, riding on gold’s coat tails as the precious metal benefits from industrial and haven demand. Gold is up 0.6 per cent to $1397 an ounce taking the ratio between the gold price and …
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Barrick profit lifted by gold and copper prices
SteelGuru
Quarterly revenue rose 25% to USD 2.95 billion largely driven by a 22% increase in the average realized gold price in the period. Mr Paul Burchell analyst of Dundee Securities said that Barrick’s numbers were generally positive. …
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I wonder if the marked discrepancy between India and China household’s gold holdings, so starkly shown in the chart above, is due to China having a strong and perhaps speculative housing market, giving the mainland Chinese a second option for wealth accumulation?

Or is it simply that the accumulation of gold by China’s households/individuals hasn’t had time to build up following the removal of restrictions just a couple of years ago?

Or is it that India’s households have more heavily accumulated gold due to a long established cultural factor where poor Indians store their wealth as personal gold jewelery?

If the discrepancy is due to the “time in the market” factor then we probably can expect China’s massive rural population to emulate India’s and that would give the gold market a very substantial “second” leg.

I wonder what is going on… with RER up by 28% at 11.20am today…. No ASX announcement but big volumes.

Interesting movements over the past few months…

RER has a suite of projects mostly gold and all but one in Australia.

http://news.silverseek.com/SilverSeek/1297276845.php

“In most industrial applications, there is a small, but necessary amount of silver and rare earths used which is resistant to substitution. The chemical properties of silver and rare earth elements are usually unique in the specialized industrial applications which mandate their use. Generally, the consumption of silver and rare earth elements is price-inelastic, meaning sharply increasing prices of each do little to discourage consumption, due to the lack of substitutes. As was seen recently in the rare earth elements, the industrial users panicked when the supply was curtailed. This will also happen in silver, as I have long predicted.

Where do I get off with the statement that silver is the rarest earth element of them all? This point is the easiest of all to make and should prompt you to rush out to buy silver immediately. What separates silver from the REE’s is the one stark factor which is unique to only silver. You can actually buy and hold silver in its purest elemental form, unlike other rare earth elements. Try calling some dealer to invest in pure yttrium, or promethium or gadolinium. And if by some miracle you can find someone to buy from, try to imagine how you could possibly sell or determine a fair price?”

The  chart singles out the rare earth metals in red (the lanthanides, plus scandium and yttrium) from all other metals and rare metals by their 2009 production rate. It also identifies the 2010 rare metals as those beginning with, and including, silver, as well as all of those produced at a rate less than that of silver in 2009. Lifton

Just for Nick (Sarah’s dad)…. There seems to be just one ASX listed player with a possibly commercial amount of Tellurium… It is at Mt Wilgar next to CDU’s giant Rocklands Cu deposit. The Mt Wilgar deposit also has Selenium. Both Tellurium and Selenium are used for advanced solar panels.

With an abundance in the Earth’s crust comparable to that of platinum, tellurium is one of the rarest stable solid elements in the Earth’s crust. Its abundance is about 1 µg/kg.^[10] In comparison, even the rarest of the lanthanides have crustal abundances of 500 µg/kg