Loading ...I Miss the Good Old Days !
In 1994 the internet was just a new thing….( Now its EVERYTHING)
In about 1994 ,I got my first laptop and found some gold sites as I was hearing from conspiracy theorists who were sending out mass mail ( yes real mail to attract more conspiracy theorists.)….that there was going to be monetization of the exploding debt and the resultant hyper inflation would destroy everybody’s wealth except for those who had Gold…..GOLD…..lots of gold ….and especially gold stocks !!
Well they convinced me !
So did my stock broker ( yes we had real physical people called stock brokers )
You went to their office and gave them a check then you would visit them on and off and send more money to your account…and they in turn would tell YOU where they were going to put it.
My guy said he had a gold stock ….a small explorer drilling in Timmins Ontario ( not far from home)
It was listed on the Vancouver Stock Exchange ( the wild west) with ticker symbol BAN
Bandore Resources
Long story short this was the beginning of that wild and whacky gold fever episode of 1994 to 1996 which affected mostly the small tiny explorers. The hallmark of that era was Bre-X…..BUT there were hundreds of these explorers ( it was said they were hunting Gold in “Elephant Country”….and somehow that was very sexy back then.
Maybe it was because of raiders of the Lost Arc mentality….but everybody wanted to participate in the Gold Rush !
Bandore went from 14 cents to 1.40 where I reluctantly bought it after protesting that it had already been a 10 bagger…..well….every time they released results of drilling ….the price took off….and soon it was ( after splits $14 !
Long story short….A Guy named DeGuzman jumped or was pushed out of a helicopter in Borneo and was never heard of again. Turns out he was salting the gold samples from the Bre_X mine in Borneo by shaving gold off his Ring !
One single gold ring was responsible for a brief massive increase in most explorers.
After the story surfaced that Bre_X was a scam…..everybody assumed EVERYTHING was a scam.
It was Nuckin Futz.
100 baggers were the norm ( if you got in early)
And the strange thing about all this was the price of gold was not all that inspiring. It went from $350 to $400 or so during that period
Anyhow My $14 stock became a 14 cent stock and I ( with my broker) rode it all the way there.
Yes it was Devastating !
But….to my point ! At least there was “action” which lead to emotion…The highest high followed by the lowest low.
All of this played out again after the continuation of another 5 years of a grinding bear market which started after the previous legendary blow off in 1980.
Then the GOLDEN YEARS….2001 to 2011….I really miss that. The Dow sucked and Gold was King and goldbugs kicked the CNBC crowd’s asses on a daily basis. We were geniuses.
We had parties and we congratulated each other for figuring out what was really going on !
But something happened on the way to Conspiracy Heaven. The financial system didn’t end.
And here we are 8 long tortured years later and still no real evidence of a turn in our Hero….Gold.
But at least 2012 2013 was exciting….in a negative way ( we had DUST and JDST to spice things up)
And then 2016 was a thrill ride which started without warning until the party abruptly stopped dead …It ended without warning too.
Well its still dead out there…3 years of deadsville.
We need a move ! what’ll it be Up and Euphoric or Down and Despondent .
Or just more grinding flatulence !
I remember those days in the early/mid 90s. You could throw a dart at a list of junior miners, buy it and it would go up. Some no account technician talked me into a god awful spec called Rule Resources. My broker was appalled, but put the order in for me anyway. One day there was a radio call for me while I was out on the line. The office had my broker wired into the radio on the other end ! He told me Rule had spiked and get out now. Well, I did. Was one of the rare occasions I cashed out at a profit. Funny how I still remember that day so clearly. (After that Rule sank into a mud hole and never recovered)
Fully, is that the time you used to walk to school which was uphill both ways and tie a turnip to your belt because you liked it that way, and because it was the style at that time?
These would be the days for me, if only I had more spare cash. Here and there are some companies of disparate sizes with decent fundamentals and (to my eye) reasonably attractive charts, some of which might do well if metals’ prices were to founder. It is a time when one can pick and choose calmly if one has cash to spare. If one doesn’t, it is a bit more hectic, but not too grim. You are the junkman selling your accumulation of junk for pennies, and reinvesting your meager proceeds in nicer stuff if you don’t have to use cash for everyday expenses.
Soothing are the few with more or less gently upwards curving charts, with multiple higher lows — even especially higher lows than aren’t very much higher than preceding lows. Nice and relaxing. Dreamy.
I personally get nervous when things rise too fast. I don’t like it.
You have been backing the wrong horses!
I have had exceptional returns off the good AUS producers!
Will get better over the next 2-3 years.
There are very good reasons why the AUS miners have out-performed others, which I have explained many times, but no-one seems to listen!
Norvast, I’m holding on to 2 AUS miners that are REAL penny stocks :Azumah and Inca. At thoughts? THX.
Sorry Isarmina do not follow them so reluctant to comment.
My portfolio contains a sprinkling of explorers which will have a run in due course, but the gains to date have come from the small – medium and large producers.
The AUS producers cleaned up their act in 2013-2015 following the lead from Newcrest NCM.AX and are now well managed, highly profitable businesses with plenty of cash, pay dividends, excellent long term resources, good exploration programmes, and now looking for undervalued producers in other parts of the world.
These AUS producers are now leading world producers with Tier 1 assets and I would not hesitate to add them to a portfolio at the next DCL
Thanks Norvast.
You are right, Norvast.
People haven’t looked hard enough. We above the equator often don’t look to Australia enough. I know that I haven’t. When I’ve looked carefully, including to Australia, I haven’t been able to sympathize completely with the gloom. One should try to pick the good ones rather than obsess over the bad ones, and many of the better ones do in fact seem to have been in Australia, but it may be more fun to ignore the better ones.