Bumble

This report appeared in the Australian Financial Review that HSBC and JP Morgan have stopped buying gold bars from the Perth Mint because of allegations of unethical sourcing of gold from Papua New Guinea which could lead to the Perth Mint losing its LBMA accreditation.

Centamin is a mid-cap producer. Its principal asset is in Egypt, which carries some political risk, but it is a first class asset. The balance sheet and performance is fair, and it pays a dividend. It hasn't had the best management in the past: this and the political risk keeps a lid on the price. That said, if you think $2000+ gold is here to stay, then most gold producers look cheap.

Physical gold ETFs own bars of gold, but not mining shares. You are probably better off buying your own coins or bars. Ishares S&P gold producers is an ETF of gold miners, though it is not very liquid. I would prefer GDX if you can get it. Of the companies you list: Fresnillo is mostly a silver company. Highland Gold is in the process of being taken over by a Russian oligarch, so probably not a good option. Franco Nevada and Royal Gold are royalty companies and are less risky than the others.

What makes for a good choice of gold company to invest in depends a lot on what you are looking to achieve and how much risk you can stomach. For one thing, there are many different kinds of company. There are explorers, developers and producers, large, medium and small. There are prospect generators, mineral banks, royalty and streaming companies and specialist investors in mining companies. The list you give is quite a mix. Some of those are funds, which is a good way to get some diversity. Royal Gold and Sandstorm are royalty companies and are comparatively low risk. Barrick, Yamana and Anglogold Ashanti are big producers. If you think the price of gold will continue to rise, the juniors like Equinox and Greatland will give the best return, but they are also the most risky.

For those who like the idea of investing alongside Eric Sprott, here is a list of companies he owns stock in. This may not be an exhaustive list. Bear in mind, he is a wealthy man and can afford to invest in highly speculative companies. $AAG Aftermath Silver Ltd $FVL Freegold Ventures Ltd $OCG Outcrop Gold Corp. $ABN Aben Resources Ltd $GCC Golden Cariboo Resources $ORX Orefinders Resources Inc $ABRA AbraPlata Resource Corp $GCM Gran Colombia Gold Corp $PAC Pacton Gold Inc $AGC Amarillo Gold Corp $GENM Generation Mining $PDM Palladium One Mining Inc. $AIR Clean Air Metals Inc. $GER Glen Eagle Resources Inc $PGM Pure Gold Mining Inc $AMK American Creek Resources Ltd $GGI Garibaldi Resources Corp $QMX QMX Gold Corp $AMX Amex Exploration Inc $GGO Galleon Gold Corp. $RGC Redstar Gold Corp $AOT Ascot Resources Ltd $GIS Genesis Metals Corp $RIO Rio2 Ltd $ARQ Argo Gold Inc $GNC Gainey Capital Corp $RJX RJK Explorations Ltd. $ARV.AX Artemis Resources Limited $GOG Golden Tag Resources $RMS.AX Ramelius Resources $ASL Argentum Silver Corp $GPG Grande Portage Resources $RNX Karora Resources Inc. $AU Aurion Resources Ltd $GPY Golden Predator Mining $ROVR Rover Metals Corp $AVG Avidian Gold Corp $GTG Great Thunder Gold Corp. $SAM Starcore International Mines $AXU Alexco Resource Corp. $GXS Goldsource Mines Inc $SAND Silver Sands Resources $BBB Brixton Metals Corp $IPT Impact Silver Corp $SAR.AX Saracen Mineral Holdings $BGL.AX Bellevue Gold Limited $IRV Irving Resources Inc $SB Stratabound Minerals Corp $BMK MacDonald Mines Exploration $IVS Inventus Mining Corp $SCOT Scottie Resources Corp. $BNCH Benchmark Metals Inc $JAG Jaguar Mining Inc $SDR Stroud Resources Ltd $BRC Blackrock Gold Corp $JDN Jayden Resources Inc $SIC Sokoman Iron Corp $BRO Barksdale Capital Corp $KAI.AX Kairos Minerals Limited $SII Sprott Inc $BTR BonTerra Resources Inc $KER Kerr Mines Inc $SIL SilverCrest Metals Inc. $BULL Canadian Palladium Resources $KG Klondike Gold Corp $SKP Strikepoint Gold Inc $CAI.AX Calidus Resources Limited $KL Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd $SKYG Sky Gold Corp. $CCM Canarc Resources Corp $KORE Kore Mining Ltd $SLVR Silver Tiger Metals Inc. $CDV Cardinal Resources Ltd $KRR Karora Resources Inc. $SPOT Goldspot Discoveries Corp. $CDV.AX Cardinal Resources Limited $KTN Kootenay Silver Inc $SSVR Summa Silver Corp. $CKG Chesapeake Gold Corp $MAE Maritime Resources Corp $STGO Steppe Gold Ltd $CNL Continental Gold Inc $MAG MAG Silver Corp $STU Stuhini Exploration LTD $DCN.AX Dacian Gold Limited $ME Moneta Porcupine Mines $SUP Northern Superior Resources $DEC Decade Resources Ltd $MEP.AX Minotaur Exploration $SVE Silver One Resources Inc $DEG.AX De Grey Mining Limited $MGR Magna Gold Corp. $SVG Silver Grail Resources Ltd $DSV Discovery Metals Corp $MIS Mistango River Resources $TM Trigon Metals Inc $DV Dolly Varden Silver Corp $MMG Metallic Minerals Corp $TSK Talisker Resources Ltd. $DYA Dynacert Inc $MMN Monarca Minerals Inc $TUO Teuton Resources Corp $ELEF Elephant Silver $MOZ Marathon Gold Corp $UGD Unigold Inc $ELY Ely Gold Royalties Inc $MTS Metallis Resources Inc $USA Americas Silver Corp $ERD Erdene Resource Development $NAM New Age Metals Inc $VZLA Vizsla Resources Corp $EVN.AX Evolution Mining Limited $NHK Nighthawk Gold Corp $WAF.AX West African Resources $EXN Excellon Resources Inc $NIC Galleon Gold Corp. $WGO White Gold Corp $EXS Explor Resources Inc $NST.AX Northern Star Resources $WGX.AX Westgold Resources $FF First Mining Gold Corp $NVO Novo Resources Corp $WM Wallbridge Mining Co Ltd $FSX Fosterville South Exploration $NVX NV Gold Corp

HGM.L has long been cheap on fundamentals: a low P/E and a high dividend yield. Even at 300p it looks cheap. But if one Russian oligarch sells his stake to another and the latter plans to acquire a controlling interest then it is probably time to sell up and look for another investment. If you like Russians, there is always POLY.L or POG.L, though they are not as cheap. If you want something on the London stock exchange, there is CEY.L or HOC.L, or if you like smaller stuff, GGP.L or HUM.L.

I own several of the royalty companies, and some juniors, including Argonaut Gold (AR.TO), Freegold Ventures (FVL.TO), Great Bear (GBR.V), MAG Silver (MAG), Osino Resources (OSI.V), Pure Gold (PGM.V), Silver One (SVE.V), Skeena Resources (SKE.V) and Treasury Metals (TML.TO). I've recently added Artemis Gold (ARTG.V) and Ascot Resources (AOT.TO). On my watchlist I currently have Liberty Gold (LGD.TO), Riverside Resources (RRI.V), Rockhaven Resources (RK.V) and Elemental Royalties (ELE.V). This is not a recommendation, and juniors are especially risky.

Current top picks on Robin Hood ^ AUY: 131 ^ BTG: 140 ^ NAK: 176 ^ JNUG: 187 ^ GOLD: 199 ^ GLD: 208 ^ JDST: 211 ^ SLV: 271 ^ HL: 310 ^ IAU: 314 ^ TRQ: 338 ^ KGC: 352 ^ NGD: 383 ^ GDX: 412 ^ ASM: 448 FSM: 520 AG: 555 ^ USAS: 558 ^ NUGT: 720 SAND: 730 PAAS: 739 GPL: 753 WPM: 791 SVM: 808 EXK: 828 HMY: 835 IAG: 855 SSRM: 857 AUMN: 879 KL: 997

Top 5 holdings of ETFs as of August 2020. GDX (VanEck Gold Miners - index tracker) Newmont, Barrick, Franco Nevada, Wheaton Precious Metals, Newcrest SGDM (Sprott) Newmont, Barrick, Franco Nevada, Kirkland Lake, IAMGOLD AUCP (L&G Gold Mining - London listed) Newmont, Barrick, Franco Nevada, Newcrest, Kirkland Lake GOAU (US Global Gold - run by Frank Holmes - weighted towards royalty companies) Wheaton Precious Metals, Franco Nevada, Royal Gold, Sandstorm Gold, SSR Mining RING (iShares Global Gold Miners) Newmont, Barrick, Wheaton Precious Metals, Anglogold Ashanti, Newcrest OGMIX (Oppenheimer) Newmont, Kirkland Lake, Barrick, Evolution Mining, Northern Star EPGFX (Euro Pacific - Peter Schiff company, fund run by Adrian Day) Franco Nevada, B2Gold, Fortuna Silver, Barrick, Metalla Royalty GOEX (Global X Gold Explorers) Alamos Gold, Saracen Mineral Holdings, SSR Mining, Centamin, Novagold Ninety One Global Gold (London listed) Agnico Eagle, Kirkland Lake, Newmont, Anglogold Ashanti, Endeavour Mining GDXJ (VanEck Gold Juniors - index tracker - actually weighted towards mid-caps) Kinross Gold, Gold Fields, Northern Star Resources, Pan American Silver, Evolution Mining SGDJ (Sprott Juniors) Hecla Mining, Equinox Gold, K92 Mining, Dundee Precious Metals, Aneka Tambang SIL (Silver) Wheaton Precious Metals, Polymetal International, Pan American Silver, SSR Mining, First Majestic Silver SILJ (Silver juniors) Pan American Silver, First Majestic Silver, Hecla Mining, Yamana Gold, MAG Silver

Another classic failed take-down. Here we are on the last Friday of a month, options expiring, and futures traders about to move to a new settlement date. NY wakes up and an attempt is made to drive the price down $20 and it fails within two hours. This is quite a bullish signal. Also, on King World News, Michael Oliver reckons that we will see $2600-2900 by the end of 2020. Michael is rarely so specific with his predictions and has been pretty good over the last two years.

Even more royalty companies on the way. There is now VOX Royalty (VOX.V) which looks rather expensive to me, and Elemental Royalties (ELE.V) which looks promising, though I will wait for the price to settle down before deciding whether to buy. I would love to find the next ELY or EMX. In other news, for those who prefer to buy on the London stock exchange, Yamana are planning to list there. No definite date yet.

Another Mark Felton war video - this time on Japanese gold. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEwgnwzcvO4

To some extent, it depends what you mean by wanting to buy miners. Any broker will cover majors such as Newmont and Barrick. Most will cover midcap-sized miners such as B2Gold or Wesdome. Only a few (in the UK at least) cover junior miners and explorers. Another factor is how much you plan to trade. If you just want to buy a bunch of stocks and review them every six months then you don't need anything fancy. If you are planning to trade in and out of positions on a weekly basis, you probably want a broker that provides additional tools. Hargreaves Lansdown are the biggest in the UK. They are not cheap, but they have good customer service and cover midcap-sized miners but limited coverage of juniors. They have good fund coverage and offer model fund portfolios. For juniors and for more serious trading you might want to try Saxo Capital Markets or Interactive Brokers.

Gold 30% Silver 3% Senior miners 7% Junior miners 25% Royalties 35%.