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Real Gold Real Silver Real Assets Real Wealth AHA. Investor AU$8.95 | VOLUME 1, ISSUE #8 APRIL/MAY 2012 AFTER AMERICA: THE INSIDE STORY SYMPOSIUM ISSUE: RESOURCES & ENERGY IN BROKEN HILL Energy Vs Metals - Dan Denning Special Report Energy Vs Metals - Dan Denning Special Report Carrick Gold Steps Up by The Bullion Baron Carrick Gold Steps Up by The Bullion Baron Art: THE BUYERS GUIDE Art: THE BUYERS GUIDE Aussie Iron Buying into the Boom with Corality Aussie Iron Buying into the Boom with Corality

AHA Investor April / May 2012

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AHA Investor April May 2012 - Gold, Energy, Iron and some great rules for Art Investment.

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Page 1: AHA Investor April / May 2012

R e a l G o l d • R e a l S i lv e r • R e a l A s s e t s • R e a l W e a l t h

AHA.InvestorAU$8.95 | Volume 1, Issue #8

APRIl/mAY 2012

After AmericA: the inside story

SYMPOSIUM ISSUE: RESOURCES & ENERGY IN BROKEN HILL

Energy Vs Metals - Dan Denning

Special Report

Energy Vs Metals - Dan Denning

Special Report

Carrick Gold Steps Up by The Bullion Baron

Carrick Gold Steps Up by The Bullion Baron

Art: THE BUYERS GUIDE

Art: THE BUYERS GUIDE

Aussie Iron Buying into the Boom with Corality

Aussie Iron Buying into the Boom with Corality

Page 2: AHA Investor April / May 2012
Page 3: AHA Investor April / May 2012
Page 4: AHA Investor April / May 2012

secure investment

buy/sell gold and silver BullionVisit us www.australiangualmetals.com

Suit5, level2, 88 Pitt St. Sydney 2000 (02) 9216 6000

Gold and Silver

Page 5: AHA Investor April / May 2012

secure investment

buy/sell gold and silver BullionVisit us www.australiangualmetals.com

Suit5, level2, 88 Pitt St. Sydney 2000 (02) 9216 6000

Gold and Silver

Page 6: AHA Investor April / May 2012

4 | AHA.Investor Apr/May 2012

contents4 Contents

6 Welcome

8 News

15 Cover Story: After America Inside Sydney’s “After America” conference hosted by Port Stephens Publishing. Words by Mark & Ben from GoldStackers.

19 Cover Story: Any Old Iron The ‘fundametals’ of investing in Iron. Words from Rickard Warnelid of Corality

22 Let’s Get Physical: Gold, Security & what the heck is “unallocated & allocated storage” anyway? Guardian Vaults MD Jenny Tremaine makes it simple.

24 Cover Story: Metals Vs Energy. Energy is the lifeblood of civilization. Dan Denning reports on the future of energy investment, and how energy might just be the new gold.

28 Solar Flair With Energy becoming more important, Corailty MD Nick Crawley takes us through the latest developments in Solar technology.

32 Cover Story Special Report: Resource & Minerals Symposium 32 – Kerry Stevenson on the importance of education in the future of Australian energy & resource investment 34 – Focus on: MacPhersons Resources – on the latest developments at their Nimbus–Boorara silver-gold-zinc-lead-copper projects 36 – Broken Hill Energy & Resource Symposium: Full Agenda

38 Silver: A Road Yet to Be Travelled Industry Analyst Michael Moore on Silver’s outlook for 2012

40 One of The Most Overlooked Aspects of The Financial Crisis: Sovereign Man’s Tim Staermose on The Eurozone, post Greek ‘rescue’

44 Are There Any Currencies Backed by Gold? Dan Denning on ‘resource rich’ currencies . . . and Mongolia?

CLASSICS & COLLECTABLES

46 Noah’s Coins! New Bullion coin offering from BullionList, plus a closer look at the Noah ‘Myth’

48 Art Investment: Six Simple Rules with Al Bailey of Art Equity

MINING & MINERALS

52 Mining News - COVER STORY: Carrick Gold Steps Up. The Bullion Baron offers his analysis, and a one on one with Carrick Gold MD John McKinstry

59 Mining News – Industry Updates

BuyERS GuIdE

64 Art For Art’s Sake: Recent successes at Menzies Auctions, plus the latest at Art Equity.

68 Buyers’ Directory

72 The Final Word: On Asia, with Simon Black

15

30

Cover by Andrew Folos

Page 7: AHA Investor April / May 2012

Apr/May 2012 AHA.Investor | 5

Australia’s Number One Privately Owned Safe Deposit Box and Bullion Vault Facility

JENNY TREMAINE - MANAGING DIRECTOR100 WILLIAM STREET, MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

TEL: 03 9606 0588 WWW.GUARDIANVAULTS.COM.AUOPENING IN SYDNEY MID 2012

Page 8: AHA Investor April / May 2012

6 | AHA.Investor Apr/May 2012

PUBLISHER: FREERMEdIA

EDITORIAL: Mike Woodcock, Lee-Ann Jones

LAYOUT: Andrew Folos, dAI Rubicon design

FEATURE WRITER: Linnet Good

CONTRIBUTORS:

– Alistair Bailey, Executive director, Art Equity

– Tim Staermose, Chief Investment Strategist, Sovereign Man

– Jay Richards of Aliom

– Michael J Moore of Author Services

– Robert Jackman, Managing director, The Rare Coin Company

– Haydn Palliser, Associate, Corality Financial Group

The Publisher would also like to thank Kerry Stevenson of Symposium,

the Bullion Baron; Zahrina Robertson for her brilliant photography,

Andrew Folos and his team (Hi Frank), Tristan Bunn at Port Phillip Publishing

and the tireless administrators of SilverStackers.com.au.

Tim Staermose appears courtesy of Sovereign Man. We find Simon Black’s

daily musing from various known and unknown corners around the world

extremely informative and entertaining.

ABOUT US, DISCLAIMER: Australian Hard Asset Investor is 100%

Australian owned and independent. We don’t sell gold, silver, hard

assets or financial advice to anyone.

All commentary and advice in this publication is of a general nature

only, and doesn’t consider your individual circumstances or financial

objectives. You should always consult a licensed financial advisor for

your investment advice.

CONTACT US FOR ADVERTISINGEnquires to the Publisher: [email protected]

Advertising Enquires: [email protected]

SUBSCRIPTIONSwww.ahainvestor.com

AHA.InvestorWelcome to AHA Investor

Welcome to AHA Investor.

This issue is a big one for us. With energy (Iran), mining (Tax) and investments (Goldman Sachs now infamous ‘Muppetgate’) all making headlines, now more than ever we need to work closely together with the hard assets industry to bring you some of the best coverage we can.

It’s an election year in the U.S, and as our favourite metal

– gold – is priced in USD (as is oil energy – for the moment) we wanted to know how things looked in the United States. Dan Denning and some of the boys at Port Phillip Publishing have a pretty clear idea; and we’ve gone inside their ‘After America’ conference for you as our cover story on p15; as well as getting you the view from Hong Kong with Simon Black on p72.

With Dan Denning also looking at the future of energy – more important than iron, in his view (p24), we’ve spoken with Corality and got their views on an old favourite, Iron, and an even older new favourite: The Sun.

We meet Jenny Tremaine of Guardian Vaults who demystifys “allocated vs unallocated”, and we’ve got Michael Moore’s views on the future of one of the editor’s personal favourites, Silver.

Then we head west on p32; Kerry Stevenson’s Resource and Mining Symposium at Broken Hill was a huge event in the calendar; and this year we have an introduction from Kerry (as well as feature photos from last years event), a 2 page update from exhibitor MacPherson’s Resources; as well as the full agenda for your reference & planning.

Our mining coverage kicks off with an in-depth interview: the Bullion Baron gets one on one with John McKinstry of Carrick Gold and gives us his expert analysis on their outlook.

Plus we have some great rules for the art investor (and a very special buyers guide) a new coin from Armenia, world news, mining coverage and so much more.

Good Investing!

Mike WoodcockEditorAHA Investor

P U B L I S H E R ’ S L E T T E R

R e a l G o l d • R e a l S i lv e r • R e a l A s s e t s • R e a l W e a l t hAHA.InvestorAU$8.95 | VOLUME 1, ISSUE #8

APRIL/MAY 2012AFTER AMERICA: THE INSIDE STORY

SYMPOSIUM ISSUE:

RESOURCES & ENERGY IN BROKEN HILL

Energy Vs Metals -

Dan Denning

Special Report

Energy Vs Metals -

Dan Denning

Special Report

Carrick Gold Steps Up by The Bullion Baron

Carrick Gold Steps Up by The Bullion Baron

Art: THE BUYERS

GUIDE

Art: THE BUYERS

GUIDE

Aussie Iron Buying into the Boom

with Corality

Aussie Iron Buying into the Boom

with Corality

Page 9: AHA Investor April / May 2012

Oct/Nov 2011 AHA.Investor | 7

C O N T E S S A

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LONDON

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calleija.com.au

Page 10: AHA Investor April / May 2012

8 | AHA.Investor Apr/May 2012

w o R L d n E w S | Hard Asset Updates

woRLd nEwS UPdATES

CANBERRA, March 19 (Reuters) - Well, we did it. Australia’s parliament passed laws for a new 30 percent tax on iron ore and coal mine profits after a bruising two-year battle with mining companies, in a major victory for Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her struggling minority government.

The tax will affect about 30 companies, including global miners BHP Billiton , Rio Tinto and Xstrata, and aims to raise about A$10.6 billion ($11.2 billion) in its first three years.

“This is indeed an historic day for economic reform, and an historic day for a fair go in Australia,” Treasurer Wayne Swan told parliament.

The tax, which is being closely watched by other resource-rich countries, is designed to spread the benefits of Australia’s resources boom to other sections of the economy by funding a cut in the company tax rate, higher payments into pension funds, and A$6 billion of infrastructure spending.

The bills also include measures to lift gradually compulsory employer payments into worker pension funds from nine percent to 12 percent by mid-2019.

The laws passed through the upper house Senate with support from the Greens, who unsuccessfully tried to increase the tax rate to 40 percent and extend it to gold and uranium miners.

The Association of Mining and Exploration Companies, which represents small and mid-tier miners, condemned the tax.

“The tax is simply unfair to smaller emerging miners, and is so complex that the administrative and compliance burden on industry and government will be extreme,” association chief executive Simon Bennison said.

“The introduction of this anti-competitive legislation in Australia will only further push investment capital offshore, and change our reputation as a safe place in which to invest.”

mining tax passed

new noah coin

silver shines west

Kirstyn March of ABC Rural reports (Tuesday, 27/03/2012) that the Nimbus silver mine (less than ten kilometres from the famous Goldfields Super Pit) has intercepted more than 8.5 million ounces of silver – well up on company expectations.

The company behind the mine, MacPhersons Resources Managing Director, Morrie Goodz says the find is exciting considering the silver price.

“The price is nearly 400 per cent on what it was back in 2007. We believe the current price has stabilised at this current level. The margins are exceedingly good at a price of silver in excess of $30.”

We’ve found out more for you on page 30 as part of our Symposium special feature.

Sydney dealers BullionList (of the distinctive Valcambi ‘CombiBar’) have a new addition to their stable.

Adding some uniquely-presented silver, the team have secured a deal with Armenian Central Bank and a German supplier.

This Noah-themed coin is available in a range of sizes and weights; and although not strictly a numismatic piece, given the history of the subject matter we took a closer look on p44.

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Apr/May 2012 AHA.Investor | 9

Hard Asset Updates | w o R L d n E w S

woRLd nEwS UPdATES

Sydney’s ABC Bullion has advised that one of its suppliers has provided them photographic evidence of a tungsten filled 1 kilo gold bar discovered this week.

The bar passed a hand-held xrf scan which showed 99.98% pure AU. The tungsten was only discovered when the bar was physically cut in half after failing a weight/density test.

Rumours in the past of 400oz tungsten filled bars being discovered as part of a shipment to China continue to persist, however this is the first documented and verified report with photographic evidence that has been made public.

From ABC Bullion: “photographs of a legitimate Metalor 1000gm

Au bar that has been drilled out and filled with Tungsten. This bar was purchased by staff of a

scrap dealer in the UK yesterday (mid-march). The bar appeared to be perfect other than the fact that it was 2gms underweight. It was checked by hand-held xrf and showed 99.98% Au.

Being Tungsten, it would not be ferro-magnetic. The bar was supplied with the original certificate. The owner of the business that purchased the bar only became suspicious when he realized the weight discrepancy and had the bar cropped. He estimates between 30-40% of the weight of the bar to be Tungsten.”

The publishers of AHA Investor thank ABC Gold for drawing attention to the issue. Given the effort involved and the value of both tungsten and of gold, it seems unlikely to be a widespread issue. The key takeout for us all is, as always: buy from a reputable dealer.

all that glitters

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www.bullionmoney.com.au p: 02 8677 4289

Suite 102, 25 George Street. Parramatta, NSW 2150, Australia

BULLION MONEY

Page 12: AHA Investor April / May 2012

10 | AHA.Investor Apr/May 2012

woRLd nEwS UPdATESw o R L d n E w S | Hard Asset Updates

Hot on the heels of our successful Ladies Luncheon event at Pink Salt Double Bay in November, we’re delighted to announce The Gold Company is one of the official sponsors of this year’s Gold Week Telethon – the major annual fundraising campaign for Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick.

Each year, the Hospital touches the lives of over 326,000 children across NSW and beyond, who really need extra support and donations.

In 2011, thanks to Australia’s generosity, the 2nd annual Gold Week Telethon raised an impressive $1.68 million for the Hospital and this year, we’re proud to be a part of the drive to go even further in donations and support.

During Gold Week in June, Gold Events will be hosted in homes, schools and workplaces across NSW. People who wish to support a particular function may also attend one of the Sydney Children’s Hospital’s official Gold Events held in prominent restaurants in and around Sydney.

The Gold Event celebrations lead up to the grand finale of

an all day live broadcast on Channel Nine, featuring network personalities, inspiring stories from Hospital families and staff, a live studio audience and performances by some of Australia’s top musical acts.

Funds raised during Gold Week all contribute to helping the Hospital buy life-saving equipment, refurbish wards and fund essential research and every dollar counts in bringing laughing and life to hundreds of thousands of children.

As with our last luncheon, guests are invited to have their gold jewellery valuated or cleaned, receive advice on selling, buying or investing in gold and diamonds, be entertained with live music and fashion parades, and pampered with the latest skin and beauty products while enjoying a sumptuous three course meal - all in the name of raising funds for the Hospital.

Stay tuned to our official blog, Facebook and Twitter pages for more details coming soon about The Gold Company’s 2012 Gold Week luncheon and find out how you too can support us, support the kids.

gold week shines

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Apr/May 2012 AHA.Investor | 11

Hard Asset Updates | w o R L d n E w S

woRLd nEwS UPdATES

India is a world of rich traditions. And one of those – perhaps not surprisingly – is numismatics. A crossroads and a trading hub for centuries, coins have passed through India down throughout history, adding to the mix of coins minted by ancient kingdoms, princely states, sultanates and foreign rulers including English, Portuguese, French and Danish and finally independent India.

Visitors at Coinex 2012, 10th national numismatic exhibition, had a glimpse of this deep heritage, as well as a few lessons in history.

Harish Shah, president of Gujarat Coin Society, told the Times of India that every year they choose exhibitions on various themes for members of public and also provide meeting place for coin aficionados and auction houses. “We are glad with every year the number of visitors is growing beyond our expectations. We have carefully chosen various themes such as coins and currency from British India, commemorative coins from India, coins from around the world on birds, sultanate period and pre-historic era. Many enthusiasts from across the state and country have participated in the event,” he said.

Dushyant Shah, a chartered accountant and financial advisor, said that there is a growing trend that Gujaratis are now waking up to - numismatics as a lucrative investment option. “I started off as an enthusiast and saw the opportunity. It is one field in which you can enter with mere Rs 2,000 and start building your collection. Coins never get depreciated due to metal used and its historic importance. A Rs 15 coin minted in King George V era was available for Rs 30,000 in 2007 which has gained value of Rs 2.70 lakh today,” he said.

riches of india

Page 14: AHA Investor April / May 2012

12 | AHA.Investor Apr/May 2012

w o R L d n E w S | Hard Asset Updates

woRLd nEwS UPdATES

Buy Gold and Silver on the Spot�

Trade with live pricesFull range of coins and barsEase and convenience ofbuying online

Online trading at www.perthmintbullion.com Call The Perth Mint Bullionline on1300 201 112 (8.30am - 4.30pm AWST)

LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 15: British Prime Minister David Cameron (L) greets the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban outside number 10 Downing Street. (Photo by Oli Scarff)

first iceland now hungary?

It seems Iceland isn’t the only European nation disinclined to surrender their sovereignty to private banking interests. From the Wall Street Journal: “Hungary’s premier fired a new broadside in the country’s running battle of wills with the European Union, saying that Hungarians should be free to make their own laws without interference from Brussels. Speaking to a large crowd of supporters celebrating the anniversary of a 19th-century Hungarian revolt against Austrian rule, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said: “Hungarians will not live as foreigners dictate.” Mr. Orban’s sharp words came amid tensions between Budapest and the EU, which is pressuring Hungary to change laws on its central bank, judiciary and data privacy. This has generated the anticipated response from EU President Jose Barroso, who responded by claiming that Hungary’s Orban “doesn’t get democracy”.

Due to overwhelming demand for a privately owned safe deposit box facility in Sydney, Guardian Vaults Pty Ltd announced that its second facility, to be located in the heart of Sydney’s CBD ,will be opening mid 2012.

Guardian Vaults’ reputation expands world‐wide and is proud to be offering its services in New South Wales. For further information and for pre‐registrations please contact: 03 9606 0588 to secure your own safe deposit box or visit www.guardianvaults.com.au

new secure storage for sydney

Page 15: AHA Investor April / May 2012

Apr/May 2012 AHA.Investor | 13

Hard Asset Updates | w o R L d n E w S

woRLd nEwS UPdATES

new gold offering: firstgold from the gold company

In our last issue we mentioned hearing some news on a new way to acquire gold, courtesy of the Gold Company. We managed to pin down Gold Company Marketing Manager Dan Novick and asked him to explain a bit more about their soon-to-be launched initiative ‘First Gold’

First off Dan, what is First Gold? First Gold is the arm of The

GoldCompany that allows everyday people to buy, sell, and accumulate investment gold and silver. It’s a bullion investment program that’s a bit more flexible; for individual, everyday investors to accumulate gold in a safe and cost-effective way.

In essence, it’s an online account through which you can buy bullion, in any quantity, at any time, from any place, through a simple and easily accessible online trading site. (Also, no other company in Australia offers a Gold Accumulation Plan, we are the first.)

The actual online account – the FirstGold Account - is aimed at the average, everyday individual who wants to start saving and putting money into precious metals, but doesn’t know how. Several accumulation option are available, including a monthly direct debit from their bank account, one-off purchases, variable monthly purchases, etc. Why are you putting this together?

Gold and silver investment is usually seen as the preserve of the very wealthy. A FirstGold account makes gold and silver easily accessible for the average, everyday individual. The emphasis is on flexibility and accessibility. With all the uncertainty in the economy and our banking system, holding a FirstGold

Account will help people recapture the ability to save. How does it work?

Again, flexibility is the key. You can either choose to set aside a set dollar amount you want to invest as a on a monthly basis; or just select the target amount of gold you want to purchase each month. On receipt of cleared funds the GoldCompany will buy you the quantity of pure gold equivalent to money we receive and store it in your account. You can take delivery of your metals in 1 ounce increments whenever you like.• Physical gold is bought and sold at

The GoldBank published Buy and

Sell rates.• Your gold is stored and fully

insured at no additional cost.• There are no minimum, requirements

or commitments to purchase • There are no entry or exit fees• You can buy and sell your gold at any

time at the published Buy Sell rates.• You can take physical delivery of your

gold in 1oz bars and coins at any time.Can I still just buy one-off invest-ment amounts whenever I like?

Of course – buy all you want!When does the site go live?

At this stage we will be active from early May – but keep checking in.

- Ed

Page 16: AHA Investor April / May 2012

14 | AHA.Investor Apr/May 201214 | AHA.Investor Feb/Mar 2012

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Apr/May 2012 AHA.Investor | 15

After America | S P E c I A L f E A T U R E

AmericaAfter

Dan Denning of Port Phillip Publishing (a regular contributor to AHA Investor) was centre stage in mid March for the Port

Phillip Publishing ‘After America’ conference. The event drew a strong crowd, and with so much opportunity to focus on

(Asia & elsewhere) we HAD to be involved. Our undercover team from Melbourne’s Gold Stackers – Mark & Ben – have

kindly shared their in-the-audience view for those readers of AHA Investor who couldn’t make the trip.

“After America” or “Ignore America”? As we packed our bags to head off to Sydney for the “After America” symposium in mid March, we had our usual airport based conversations (possibly arguments) as to what lay before us.

Would we see predictions of inflation or deflation? What would this do to the pricing of precious metals? Which of us snored the loudest?

“After America” was 2 full days of presentations organised by the team that brings you the “Daily Reckoning”, “Diggers and Drillers” and “Money Morning” newsletters. This team is based in Melbourne at the headquarters of Port Phillip Publishing, so we found ourselves wondering why we had to fly all the way from Melbourne to Sydney to see them present.

The simple answer was we were swayed by the additional line-up of celebrity presenters alongside them which included a surprise presentation from Dr. Steve Keen on “The Dynamics of Private Debt”.

Published experts in the topic of the day were everywhere. So many that staff from the “Educated Investor” financial bookshop (yet another Melbourne based company) were run off their feet with sales and book signings.

As the title here alludes, those in attendance appeared to have already written off the Ben Bernanke brigade as an outdated

Apr/May 2012 AHA.Investor | 15

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S P E c I A L f E A T U R E | After America

relate to their world, how they trade their way to survival.

Those who try to use scientific models to explain and predict human behaviour (like Dr. Sheldon Cooper on the television comedy series Big Bang Theory) will continue to fail to predict human behaviour and be unable to navigate human sensibilities. As a result predications of economic outcomes will be more elusive than the Higgs boson particle.

The irony here is that the profession who seems to be the masters of analysing human behaviour are actually the comedians. Observational comedy is all about pointing out strange behaviours that can be observed in individuals and what happens when they act together as a group. I’m sure if we asked Jim Parsons to predict our economic future he would do significantly betters than his alter-ego Sheldon.

So it won’t seem strange to you then that the keynote presentation by Satyajit Das was more like watching an hour with Billy Connolly than listening to a presentation about our economic future.

Das knows his stuff clearly. Ever heard the term “it’s funny because it’s true”?

The news was grim, but we laughed. If you ever need to be told you have cancer you want Das to be the one to break the news.

Botox EconomicsLike an aging human, Botox can hold back the appearance of aging for a little while. But it can’t stop the inevitable. Bernanke’s Botox shots are merely an extension of Alan Greenspan’s liquidity jabs. They are trying to fight back the effects of our overwhelmingly aging demographic. It can’t change the fact that Baby-Boomers are all retiring, leaving a much smaller pool of workers to buy their shares and houses, as well

and ineffectual remanent of a once proud US economy. In fact when a hands-up poll was conducted, at least 25% of attendees already owned physical gold in preparation for the lean times ahead. We were astonished to see almost the same number of hands go up when asked about physical silver.

Was this because attendees felt that the United States and it’s Dollar has become irrelevant, and that the world’s economic future from here on in will be driven by the European debt crises and the fortunes of China; or was is simply that we all recognise that America is the problem, and the conference was refreshingly solution focused. There doesn’t appear to be much confidence that America will provide a solution anytime soon (at least one that doesn’t involve warp speed money printing).

An often repeated theme amongst the presenters was that it is impossible to “know” anything with certainty, and to be wary of anyone who claims to “know”. Be particularly wary and indeed sceptical of predictions.

Moving down or moving EastEveryone seemed to be trying to determine what the short term economic future holds. This boiled down to knowing whether we should expect inflation or deflation.

It’s a rare opening night cocktail party that introduces you to people who actually understand the difference between monetary

inflation (which has been with us for years) and price inflation which seems to be apparent or absent (both in abundance) dependent on where you look.

The clear consensus is that America’s influence, and specifically it’s ability to leverage off its reserve status is clearly waning.

While the intent of the conference was to specifically focus on the potential new centre of economic power, China. What would a transition of power look like?

Will it be like the transition from the British Empire to the United States (I.e between allies), or will there be a little more kicking and screaming?

The United States became the new reserve currency after Bretton Woods in July 1944 because it owned all the gold. Who is now amassing all the gold they can, and haven’t updated figures on their gold reserve holdings for three years? Yes you guessed it: China.

The Age CurveTraditionally economists are divided into two camps, the Keynesians and the Austrians. Both seem to treat the populace (at least in their raw form) as constant, without catering for changes in its makeup. But our populations do change, and this is a key thing that they are missing. This is to say that they not only grow and shrink, as both the Keynesians and the Austrians catered for, but that the composition of the population can change, and it can change radically.

Imagine the effect on the composition of a population if its government was to institute a “one-child policy”? How would that affect the spending habits of a population in the subsequent generation? What if we accept the popular notion that one gender has more of a tendency to save than the other? ... and by this I don’t just mean more sports car sales and less Louis Vuitton handbags.

It was refreshing to see that almost every “After America” presenter made more than passing reference to demographics. This was either as part of the explanation as to why we are in the current mess we find ourselves, or as to provide a picture of what the future economy might look like.

The Laugher CurveEconomics, according to most traditional universities requires formulas, few of which appear to convey any real meaning. Only one slide in the whole conference contained a formula, and this was simply to illustrate the inadequacies of applying formulae to human behaviour.

These formulas clearly exist only to promote economics as a more “pure” science, like nuclear physics. But economics is a study of people, how they

“There doesn’t appear to be much confidence that America will provide a solution anytime soon”

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Apr/May 2012 AHA.Investor | 17

After America | S P E c I A L f E A T U R E

as pay taxes towards their social welfare.But what does this mean for gold? Well given that

it is one of the few asset classes not typically owned by the baby boomer generation, it is not as exposed as shares and real estate. It’s market is dominated by government manipulation and central banks looking to increase their reserves, making this asset class most likely to survive the Baby Boomer tsunami.

The Future - The “J” CurveSpeaking of Tsunamis, the similarities of our current predicament are eerily similar to that of Japan 15 years ago. the Tokyo real estate crash began in 1990 and is still more than 40% down.

Japan was the first to build a true welfare state, and implement a zero interest rate policy. Look where that got them.

According to Das, we are like the 80s one-hit wonder from the Vapors, “Turning Japanese”.

We live in a society that is based on debt, and without new sources of debt we, like Japan, will suffer significant deflation. In fact the Japanese experience effectively gave birth to the word “stagflation”.

So if we want to see what our future holds, we need just look across to Japan. It appears we may be in for a long period in the economic wilderness.

Will our baby boomer wave be an economic tsunami? Will it wipe the slate clean to start again, or can the western world expect decades of falling house prices and near zero growth, despite near zero interest rate policies?

And finally ...We had a fantastic time at this event. Met a lot of interesting and switched on people. You will certainly see us both there again next year (economy permitting of course).

What is certain is that we will see lower standards of living across the globe for decades. The credit “bar” is closing and it’s time to pay the tab.

Just like the office worker who was informed by Das that he would “die at his keyboard”, we are in for a rough ride.

So what was the ultimate advice from this conference?

Rather than chasing speculative capital gains, we should first and foremost focus on wealth preservation, followed by income generation, with chasing capital gains a distant third.

So in the end we turn to the keynote speaker, Satyajit Das, and his message to those looking for a Chinese century.

“Keep Looking”

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GC_Advert_AHA_FINAL_OUTLINED.indd 1 19/01/12 11:43 AM

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Any old IRonInvesting in iron ore projects – where are the risks?It seems as though every time you open the paper or turn on the news there is a headline about Australia’s mining billionaires. If you are tempted to jump on the mining investment band wagon and have your eyes set on iron ore then this article is for you. I have aimed to highlight

Investing in hard assets means looking at the risks, weighing

your options, and making your choices. While we love Gold

& Silver, in this country it’s Iron that makes the headlines.

From Rickard Warnelid.

the key risks for a large scale iron ore project from an investment perspective.

In my job at Corality Financial Group I get involved in a lot of financial modelling and advisory for the mining sector. Working with both project developers and financiers, we assist with the debt financing of projects and also on the financial modelling and analysis of projects for other advisors, banks

World’s Largest Train snakes through the Pilbara, loaded with ‘red gold’ - Iron ore

Any Old Iron | A S S E T I n v E S T m E n T

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or investors. As part of our engagements, we are routinely asked to model the impacts of various project scenarios to identify the financial impacts and assess the viability and bankability of a project. Based on this exposure I comment here on what risks people in this sector are currently discussing and watching out for.

This article identifies the common risks that should be analysed when assessing iron ore projects. It is critical for all investors to be aware that these risks and many more exist, and to do your homework before taking the plunge into investing in iron ore. Unfortunately not everyone becomes a billionaire!

Someone has changed the rules! – Government risksGovernment risk is an area that is difficult to influence, but important to understand. From time to time Governments at both state and federal levels will make policy decisions that impact the economics of mining projects. This article is in no way intended to either support or defend any recent policy decisions, simply to identify that it is critical for an investor to investigate the potential impact any change will make. It pays off to conduct your own research and to speak to experts who can offer advice on the policy positions that the various governments and opposition parties have publically stated. From a financial perspective our clients provide us with a variety of scenarios that they believe are likely to occur, which we then factor into the financial screening model. This enables our clients to gain a tangible understanding of the financial impacts they may be exposed to should the rules of the game change.

Along with mining development costs, the

ultimate price that the iron ore will achieve in the market

is of critical importance to gettinga project off the ground, as well as its long

term viability

A S S E T I n v E S T m E n T | Any Old Iron

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All dressed up and nowhere to go – infrastructure risksA key factor that is scrutinised at length is the impact infrastructure requirements have on mining projects. For virtually all iron ore projects (unless your mine is located right next the customer you are supplying!) new infrastructure is needed in order to facilitate the transport of the product from the mine to the customer.

The importance of the infrastructure equation cannot be underestimated. If you look through company presentations of major iron ore producers you see that some of their largest investments currently undertaken are related to port and rail development. The major producers are investing billions of dollars every year in infrastructure to ensure they are able to transport their product from the mine to their customers. Without access to critical infrastructure, an iron ore project will remain just that – a project.

The risk of delays is another key risk that infrastructure poses to prospective mining projects. This risk can be modelled and its impact assessed. As an investor, a delay will not only impact the ultimate costs of the project development, but also the company’s ability to generate cash as they will not be able to deliver the resource to its customers.

Show me the money – funding risksA critical component of project development is to lock in the project funding. For an iron ore project we are often looking at total construction costs well exceeding one billion dollars, so you can rest assured the bankers will be performing significant due diligence before approving a transaction of that magnitude.

In our advisory capacity Corality works with clients to prepare for the bank negotiation phase. This work needs to start years before the funding is required as the to-do lists are extensive and some processes can’t and shouldn’t be rushed.

Needless to say, without funding a project will not be developed into an operating asset. When it comes to the different options available, the project developers will broadly have two options – put forward their own money or borrow funds. When you look at the major iron ore mining companies, they are generating enough cash from their existing mines that quite often they will not need to seek additional funding to get a new project off the ground. This however is generally not the case for an up and coming junior mining company. Project development – it all stacks upThe costs of a mining project ultimately determine its long term viability. Establishing any mining project is expensive, no matter the commodity. As previously discussed, one of the key areas of development costs relates to infrastructure.

Beyond this there are the obvious costs of establishing the mine itself. All this before you have anything you can sell!

Before a project will even get to a stage where financiers will lend the initial development funds, a key question often asked is “what are the cash costs going to be?” Ultimately the backers of the project are looking to get comfortable that the mine itself will be competitive against other mines. This also ultimately allows the backers to understand if the mine will be viable if the price of iron ore was to drop significantly.

From a financial modelling perspective, costs are a critical input into the model and should be tested under multiple scenarios. Our clients will virtually always ask us to run multiple high, low and base case scenarios as well as extreme scenarios. This cost analysis offers the company the opportunity to identify key costs and value drivers of their project which is used to prove the commercial viability of the project to investors and bankers.

Please your backers and investorsAlong with mining development costs, the ultimate price that the iron ore will achieve in the market is of critical importance to getting a project off the ground, as well as its long term viability. In virtually all cases we see, the banks and project developers will provide a price forecast to evaluate the prospects of the project. If the prices are high and the costs are forecasted to stay low for a long period of time, the prospects of getting the project off the ground are significantly increased. This doesn’t guarantee success though! The financial backers of the project will always ask to see what happens if the reverse were to occur i.e. costs go up and prices come down. As long as there is a margin between costs and prices into the future, you are still looking pretty good, but ultimately what you are after is a project that maintains a sustainable margin for a long time into the future. This will allow the backers to get their funding back, and investors to make some money along the way.

Do your home work before betting your life savings This is not investment advice but a lesson to think before jumping, to be diligent instead of impulsive and to ultimately, and most importantly, understand project economics before parting with hard earned cash. Very few people become iron ore billionaires (unfortunately!) but if you are focusing on the key risks outlined in this article then your chances of getting ahead are significantly improved.

About Rickard WärnelidRickard Wärnelid is the Founder and Director of Corality Financial Group, a full service analytical consulting firm specialising in financial modelling, advisory, model auditing and training.

Rickard’s resources expertise stems from roles at Commonwealth Bank, Navigator Project Finance and Norwegian Bank. At Corality Rickard works as a financial and commercial advisor for clients across all industry sectors.

Any Old Iron | A S S E T I n v E S T m E n T

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A S S E T I n v E S T m E n T | Guardian Volts

unallocated accounts are used by many gold dealers, including some of the world’s major

banking institutions. This practice involves gold dealers taking orders for gold, and providing the customer with a credit note in return. No specific bars of gold or silver are allocated to the customer; instead the customer credit for bars is backed by the general stock of the bullion dealer with whom the account is held. This allows the dealer to sell more gold than they actually have, holding only the amount that it estimates will be called upon to deliver in worst case scenarios. Furthermore, if the business fails and goes bankrupt, each investor becomes a creditor, with insurance unlikely to cover the full market value of the entire stock of bullion.

Predictions for 2012 global financial markets identify a number of critical events which, depending on the outcomes, could make or break the path to recovery. Presidential elections in the USA, political instability in Australia and vulnerable European markets continue to drive the need for careful investing.

China is viewed as a key factor in commodity markets, and speculation is mounting over the effect of a slowdown in economic growth and pressure on property prices with a potential hard landing. Relatively low household consumption and potential implications associated with a change in leadership scheduled for later this year are creating uncertainty, and require careful management by local Chinese governments.

Gold and silver bullion markets in 2012 have to date been generally bullish and despite recent price movements, remain popular with private investors. Barriers to purchasing remain low, and the ability to buy in bite-sized pieces is helping to make bullion a more attractive investment alternative to overpriced property or unstable share markets. However, it is important that potential gold and silver investors are aware of their options when it comes to secure storage of their investment.

Common risks that individual investors often face include unallocated storage accounts, not knowing where their bullion is stored and misleading information pertaining to the storage of their bullion; for example, believing that their bullion is allocated in a non banking environment.

With the increase in ease of precious metals purchasing, unscrupulous operators are taking advantage of retail investors who may not be aware of proper due diligence processes that should be undertaken before completing transactions. Retail investors lack the industry ‘know-how’ to best operate in physical bullion markets. It is important to find a reputable and trustworthy dealer, but just as important to carefully select safe storage and appropriate insurance cover for your physical bullion.

The best way to protect against these risks is to take absolute ownership of your gold or silver bullion on an allocated basis, and store your investment with a reputable and well known safe deposit box and bullion vault facility.

Privately owned safe deposit box and bullion vault facilities are becoming the preferred option for those with valuables requiring secure storage. As private businesses, they are more

Let’s get PHYSICAL

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Guardian Volts | A S S E T I n v E S T m E n T

customer-centric and their service offering is tailored to meet public demands. These include flexible viewing hours, private viewing rooms, anonymity of secure box contents and a greater variety of secure box product options.

Guardian Vaults at 100 William Street, Melbourne represents an excellent alternative for those looking to transfer from unallocated bullion accounts or traditional bank vault institutions. Many have lost faith in the finance industry after recent market disasters, and are keen to find alternative avenues of investments and storage options. Further there is Australian legislation stating that in extreme economic stress, the Government can confiscate gold from bank vaults to strengthen their reserves. Although this is very unlikely, people remain wary of the dormant legislation and avoid storage in bank vaults.

The rise of secure storage alternatives is encouraging more retail investors to secure absolute ownership of allocated gold and silver bullion. As a privately owned company Guardian Vaults removes the risks associated with physical storage, allowing greater autonomy and flexibility for individual investors. Offering high security storage for the all important post-trade requirements of physical gold custody. Guardian has built a professional and trustworthy network within the precious metals community. Guardian Vaults has been operational since 2002 and were the first privately owned safe deposit box facility in Australia. The vault boasts an impressive resume of high tech security features, excellent customer service and insurance if required.

One of the reasons for Guardian Vaults’ success has been their partnership with Guardian Gold, providing investors with a seamless solution for physical gold and silver purchases, insurance and storage requirements. The transaction process is simple: a quote is requested by the customer, the purchase confirmed, identity checks are completed and the funds transferred. Customers’ bullion is directly allocated to their individual safe deposit box or bullion locker, which they can access at their convenience. Jenny Tremaine, Managing Director of Guardian Vaults and Guardian Gold, suggests that securing your valuables, including precious metals, is a necessity of life. “Make sure you trust your secure vault provider and ensure the facility is able to demonstrate to you the security features that will guarantee the safety of your valuables.”

Whatever your reasons for purchasing precious metals, be sure to safeguard your investment by using trustworthy dealers, and a professional safe deposit box and bullion vault facility. Anyone can decide to invest in gold or silver, but be careful to seek expert advice when purchasing physical bullion and protect your investment with a professional safe deposit box and bullion vault facility.

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metals or energy

Energy: it’s the lifeblood of civilization. With increasing

industrial and domestic demand across China, India, and

throughout the Asian area, energy is replacing base metals as the

world’s most valuable commodity class...Dan Denning reports on

the future of energy investment, compared to commodities.

L ET’S examine some evidence that energy resources are replacing metals as the world’s most

valuable commodities.Item one is BHP Billiton’s half-year

result. The company reported lower profits on higher revenues. Its half-year profit through December of 2011 was down 7% to $9.94 billion from $10.52 billion the period before.

Don’t bother sending BHP CEO Marius Kloppers any flowers. $9.94 billion is a respectable result and still one of Australia’s great half-year corporate profits. But what’s interesting is that BHP is basically an iron ore and coal company trying to become an oil and natural gas company. It’s hoping to diversify the structure of its earnings before iron ore and coal prices correct.

The company knows that China’s metals intensive phase of industrial development is in the process of peaking. That’s why BHP spent $17 billion on shale gas acquisitions

in the US last year. It’s also why the company spent $10 billion buying back its own shares. If the base metals and iron ore businesses were growth businesses, BHP would be expanding capacity and ignoring shale.

Mind you, iron ore still makes it rain for BHP. Earnings from the iron ore division rose 36% to $7.9 billion. BHP’s iron ore assets are what Kloppers describes, as “tier-one, long-life, low-cost” assets. He’s right. Scooping up giant piles of iron ore in the Pilbara and shipping it to China is a high margin business, especially with iron ore prices around $140/tonne.

With a 65% profit margin before income taxes, the iron ore division made up over 50% of BHP’s total earnings before taxes. By contrast, underlying earnings at the base metals division fell 54% to $1.6 billion. This contrast is what probably caused the company to conclude: “In the longer term, we expect the rate of growth in steelmaking raw materials demand, particularly in China,

A S S E T I n v E S T m E n T | Metals or Energy

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to decelerate as underlying economic growth rates revert to a more sustainable level.”

But let’s look at exhibit number two in the great base metals peaking story. This morning we had a look at the Power Shares DB Base Metals Long Exchange Traded note (NYSE:BDG). That’s a mouthful! Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs) are unsecured obligations designed to track the performance of an index. They usually use futures contracts to do so. In this case, the underlying index is the Deutsche Bank Liquid Commodity index tracking base metals.

It’s easy to get bogged down in how ETNs and Exchange Traded Funds work. In fact, the more we looked at this one the more horrified we were. But if you read the fact sheet for the fund, it tells you quite clearly what the intention is: to provide investors with a cost-effective, convenient way to take a long, short, or leveraged view on the performance of base metals.

In other words, it’s a way of gambling on the direction of prices in base metals. The ETNs aren’t actually secured by physical metal. They hold futures contracts.

The share price of BHP’s US listing neatly tracks BDG’s performance over the last three years. That’s the

Metals or Energy | A S S E T I n v E S T m E n T

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first thing you’ll notice when you look at the charts side by side. This is a bit of a surprise. Despite BHP’s concerted move into oil and gas, and despite the fact that its asset projects are more diversified than say, Rio Tinto’s, BHP trades like BDG. And BDG tracks a base metals index.

BHP still with a heart of metal Wall Street offered investors a way to take a leveraged view on base metals prices about three months before Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. BDG began trading shortly after BHP made an all-time high. Do you think these things are coincidental?

The financial industry is in the business of selling you securities. That’s why you should always be nervous when it’s rolling out new products. The roll out of hot new securities almost always coincides with a top in markets. This is exactly why we’re suspicious of the Glencore-Xstrata merger. It’s a way of marketing the same business to investors in a new way. Meanwhile, the underlying business conditions – producing base metals and trading commodities – may have peaked.

That brings us to exhibit three in our case against steel and its metal brothers. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday that China’s GDP growth could decline by half as a result of the problems in Europe. The IMF expects China to grow at 8.2% this year, but says as much as 4% of that growth could disappear because of trouble with China’s customers in Europe.

You can try and sell things to people who don’t have money. It can work for a while, if they have access to credit. But even then, the willingness to spend money you don’t have is a psychological and cyclical phenomenon. In the Credit Depression, we reckon frugality and thriftiness will be the in thing.

Despite BHP’s concerted move into oil and gas, and

despite the fact that its asset projects are more diversified

than say, Rio Tinto’s, BHP trades like BDG

A S S E T I n v E S T m E n T | Metals or Energy

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Solar flairWith energy firmly in focus

for the rest of the year, we asked corality financial Group to shed some light on one of the newer – and

at the same time the oldest – energy source in play at the moment.

the sun shines bright for solar, as corality md nick

crawley explains.

Solar flair – review of current trends in solar power With the world facing numerous pressures from its citizens to promote sustainable energy, especially after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and governments signing up to carbon trading and reduction schemes, many countries and companies are adopting renewable energy as the way of the future.

Europe is currently seen as the forefront for developing renewable energy projects and new technologies but Australia is playing catch up and making progress with the Solar Flagship initiative.

In addition to this, momentum is building rapidly in Asia, Africa and the US so we expect the landscape to change over the next few years as government support is eroded in Europe.

Solar technology has developed drastically over the past decade. It is now a well understood and proven technology and it therefore represents a low risk investment from a financier’s perspective.

Compared to, say, biofuels, the solar industry is much more homogenous and therefore easier to assess and bank. Transition from fossil fuel to solar power is being facilitated by the continuous improvement of the now well accepted technology and increasingly de-risked

economies of scale the increasing cost of fossil fuel making conventional power more expensive the fact that company share prices, now more than ever are dependent on how the company publically promotes its socio-environmental footprint governments promoting solar projects and ensuring opportunities for investment are made visible and attractive.

In Australia the strong Australian dollar contributes to the viability of the development of solar projects

I have been involved in the financing of power projects throughout my career; in Ernst & Young’s transaction advisory team, ANZ’s Global Project and Structured Finance division and most recently in my role as Founder and Managing Director of Corality Financial Group. During the last 17 years I have structured or analysed power projects in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and the UK in both traditional fossil fuel generation and more recently renewable assets in the solar and wind sectors. During this journey I have witnessed the solar industry emerge from a hobbyist enterprise to a world scale multi-billion dollar viable alternative energy supply. In the last 12 months alone, Corality has worked on the €400 billion Desertec project, the South African solar initiative bids and the Australian Solar Flagships programme. So, what makes solar successful?

A S S E T I n v E S T m E n T | Solar Flair

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Solar Industry – success factors To keep it brief, the solar industry works when • the weather and geography is

suited to the technology • government provides an

environment conducive to investment

• government is stable for foreign investment

To put the solar industry and its great potentials in perspective we

should note that the €400 billion Desertec initiative is expected to provide 15% of Europe’s electricity once completed (2050). The project includes a vast network of solar and wind farms in desert areas in North Africa and transmission infrastructure up into Europe. Corality has been working closely with the Desertec Foundation to provide economic screening and financing frameworks for assessing and structuring the viability of projects and has followed the

project progress since inception many years ago with great admiration for all parties involved.

The success of solar industry in a country is largely due to seed support from governments; attractive Feed-In-Tariff (FIT), subsidies for developers, tax rebates and tax payment holidays. Western Europe is the leader in the solar industry, but with recent changes to the FIT schemes in Germany and Spain the growth in solar is set to decline in these countries. The success of Germany’s

Solar Flair | A S S E T I n v E S T m E n T

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incentive to build solar projects has also caused an oversupply of projects. This has resulted in Germany slashing its FIT by almost 30% and Spain also cutting its subsidies. Though Western Europe seems poised to slow down in growth of solar projects, there is a positive pipeline of projects in China, US, Australia and Africa.

The expected reduction in European solar project demand is countered by the increase in the US, Asia and South Africa. These countries have attractive geographic and investment conditions for solar projects, so increasingly developers are exploring these hot beds.

Solar technologies – a new dawn Solar technologies harness the sun’s energy and convert it into electrical power. The two most common technologies today are solar photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP). With either technology, the main challenge is to increase the conversion yield of heat electricity.

The applied science of harnessing solar energy has evolved dramatically over the past decade. In particular we note advances in silica wafer production, film chemistry and sun tracking arrays.

These breakthroughs, largely lead by European countries, have dramatically reduced production costs as well as increased operational efficiency.

Solar PV makes use of cells containing a photovoltaic material mounted on wafers which aggregate to be what we recognize as solar panels. They generate electricity when exposed to light, more specifically they convert solar energy into a flow of electrons, allowing them to act as charge carriers and forming an electric current. Solar panels are composed of a number of solar cells. In comparison, Concentrating Solar generates electricity

The expected reduction in European solar project demand is countered by the increase in the US, Asia and South Africa.

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by using mirrors to concentrate sun light and produce heat to convert water into steam which is then used to run a conventional turbine. This technology is seen by many as a simpler, cheaper and more efficient way to harness the sun’s energy than PV panels.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates that installations have grown ~ 60% year-on-year on average since 1999. Accordingly the costs of developing these technologies is decreasing with the entrance of Asian manufacturers. The debate of supporting local production versus cheaper international production is a contentious issue and some governments such as Italy are introducing minimum local production hurdles.

Solar risks – too hot to handle? Though government backing of solar projects is overall positive, the financial viability of these projects is subject to the availability of low cost project finance debt funding.

Here are the key risks that financiers will review to assess a typical solar project and when preparing a financial model all of these requirements need to be accounted for and the driving parameters clearly understood and calculated. A flexible and transparent financial model allows the developer or financier to perform comprehensive stress testing of the economics of the project. Risks to be quantified and stressed include:

Technology – which technology is being employed, who has manufactured it, licensed it and how many precedents are there in the same region?

Off-taker – who is buying the electricity, for how long and at what price? The structural strength of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and the credit quality of the off-taker will be assessed to determine the likelihood and variability of a minimum revenue stream.

Construction – having a reliable construction contractor with a well negotiated construction contract, installing quality generation equipment

with appropriate performance guarantees. Country/Political risk – the location of

the solar plant may introduce political risk, more so in less-developed countries – which generally seem to be the hot ones!

Government incentives – government may make changes to legislation which if removed drastically alter the financial viability of the investment.

Single asset risk – unless packaged properly renewable energy projects are often ‘small’ which means that they can appear uneconomic. More recently renewable energy projects have been bundled up to ensure the benefits of a portfolio, with less statistically reduced dependency on any one component failing.

The future of solar – a shining light With a comparable levelised cost of electricity (LCoE) Solar PV technology is now a competitive alternative to more traditional fossil fuel. The decrease in per unit cost to develop these solar projects is leading the way to having a truly competitive alternative to conventional power without government subsidies.

Looking forward into the short to medium term I see solar generation no longer considered an expensive technology that only works with major government subsidies. Improving technology and pressure for corporate responsibility (for generators and consumers) is moving the solar industry into the international spotlight. This is evidenced by some of the amazingly ambitious projects making headway in the market today. Bid activity in South Africa and Australia also means that the supporting network of independent expert consultants required is well established as the industry moves towards a critical mass.

This is a welcome phase shift in the energy sector; solar is a technology that leaves a small footprint – it is good for the world! Looking beyond the usual investment horizon I envisage that the way solar energy is harnessed will fundamentally change and we will

move from ‘sites’ to solar production being embedded into our everyday environment. If solar technology could be merged with glass production then you can imagine high rise buildings being glazed in a material that allows them to be energy independent of traditional grids. The solar industry is one of the energy sub-sectors that offers the most potential as its progress is driven by quantum and chemical breakthroughs rather than mechanical and engineering, compared with turbines for which the technology has plateaued.

About Nick Crawley Nick Crawley is the Founder and Managing Director of Corality Financial Group, a full service analytical consulting firm specialising in financial modelling, advisory, model auditing and training.

With two decades of experience in analysis and 17 years experience in project and infrastructure modelling, Nick leads project analysis and advisory assignments in sectors including power generation, resources and infrastructure. Nick’s specialist resources and renewable energy expertise stems from positions at Ernst & Young’s transaction advisory team, ANZ’s Global Project and Structured Finance division and management roles at Navigator Project Finance.

As the MD of Corality Financial Group, Nick oversees all project finance advisory and provides technical guidance on the analysis performed for all of Corality’s investment evaluation assignments.

Looking forward into the short to medium term I see solar generation no longer considered an expensive technology that only works with major government subsidies.

Solar Flair | A S S E T I n v E S T m E n T

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The inaugural Resources and Energy Symposium (RES) held in May 2011

exceeded the expectations of all that attended - including 473 delegates, 50-plus resource companies and over a dozen high level key note speakers. This year’s event looks set to exceed last year with a stellar line up of companies and key note speakers.

The 2012 Resources and Energy Symposium (RES2012) will focus on the challenges that are set to face, not only the Australian resource industries, but Australia as a whole.

The introduction of the Carbon Tax and Mineral Resource Rent

Tax means Australia could potentially be seen as a less investment-friendly country. As a nation, we must work to keep as globally competitive as possible or risk losing out to those countries whose governments support the resources industry and encourage offshore investment into the sector. We have already seen increased investment into Africa and Latin America where governments are changing their royalty percentages and improving their information in order to attract more investment. As a result, geologists from Australia are using their skills to find new deposits and create new mines and jobs in these countries instead of using the resources we have at our own front door. We cannot afford to sit back and be complacent any more.

These are the very issues that will be discussed, debated and planned for at RES2012. The event will also look at ways Australia can collaborate and remain competitive as well as identity the outlook

“Four days before it was due to start, I picked up the programme for the

2011 Resources and Energy Symposium in

Broken Hill. After reading it, I realised I simply had

to be there. I jumped in the car and travelled

1,400 kms, over two days, just to attend.”

Symposium: informing investment

S P E c I A L R E P o R T | Symposium

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and opportunities for those who invest in the industry.RES has secured more than 50 resource companies who will present

their investment opportunities. There will also be panel discussions and over 15 keynote speeches covering a range of topics that include:

•Australia’seconomicoutlook,MichaelBlythe,ChiefEconomist,Commonwealth Bank

•Thefirsteraofthecoalgasindustry,SirEricNeal,ACCVOCPengFIGEM FAICD (Lie) FTSE

•Shale Gas and Fracking, debunking the myths, Dr Claire Curtis Thomas, CEO, Institute of Gas Engineers, UK

•AgricultureVmining.Wheretofromhere?TheHon.JohnAnderson, former Deputy PM and former Chairman of Eastern Star Gas

•Providingsolutions,notroadblocks,forminingandagriculture,BenWhite, CEO, New Rural Industries

•Battlesinahostileenvironment,ProfessorIanPlimer,UniversityofAdelaide; Author and Scientist

Readers of AHA Investor magazine will appreciate that the resources industry is a key part of the Australian economy and that we need to understand the key fundamentals that drive the industry. This in turn will enable us to make better investment decisions that will help secure a brighter future for all.

But why come all the way to Broken Hill? Well this wonderful outback Australian city was the start of the industrialisation of Australia; it was also the birthplace of BHP and today continues to have a working mine as part of the heart of the community. It is also where Pro Hart painted some of his most famous paintings and where today

many artists choose to live. This blending art and the resources industry will also be a feature of this years event with local art being exhibited throughout the event and proceeds from the sales going to the Symposium Education Foundation.

Symposium is very passionate about the industry and educating all Australians around the opportunities surrounding the sector. As a result, profits from the Resources and Energy Symposium go into scholarship programmes that provide funds to educate students wishing to undertake tertiary education within the resources field. We would like to encourage all Australians to come to Broken Hill and to experience the wonderful hospitality of the outback while attending an event that will help them understand the issues that we face as we work towards a better future for all of us.

The Resources and Energy Symposium will take place 21-23 May 2012 in Broken Hill. For more information visit http://res2012.symposium.net.au/ or email [email protected].

If you are a golf enthusiast come and join the Great Australian Outback Golf Challenge on Sunday 20th May and test your swing in a fun and light hearted Ambrose tournament open to all. The main challenge will be to look out for the kangaroos and emus that call the course home.

Symposium: informing investment

Symposium | S P E c I A L R E P o R T

Page 36: AHA Investor April / May 2012

34 | AHA.Investor Apr/May 2012

S E c T I o n n A m E | Story Name

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MRP 100% Owned Nimbus Projectsilver-gold-zinc-lead-copper

(above) Nimbus silver mine operated from 2003 to2007 producing 3.6 million ounces of silver at anaverage grade of 352 g/t silver. MacPhersons haveappointed a Project Metallurgist, Mr Adrian Hall, tolead the mill recommissioning process. Mr Hallcomes to the company with a recent successfultrack record of recommissioning and expandingprocessing plants in Western Australia.

Nimbus Project Shines

In July 2011, to fast track the opportunity toprocess MacPhersons ore within the MRP business,the Company acquired mill processing and mineassets at the Nimbus Silver Mine, located 8 km fromthe Kalgoorlie SuperPit.

With in-house expertise, and independentconsultants, MRP very quickly established a 6Mozsilver target and commenced an aggressive, buttargeted resource drilling program.

Impressive drill results followed with intersections ofprimary silver-gold-zinc-lead-copper up to depth of370 metres, up to 20m thick VHMS breccia withHGZ >1,600g/t silver, >31% zinc and >6% lead over7m core width (see cross section opposite).

Less than 6 months after the acquisition, and withdrilling at depth and at other targets within thetenement group still continuing, a maiden inferredmineral resource of 2.13Mt at 125g/t silver and1.32% zinc for 8.6Moz silver and 28,100oz zinc hasbeen announced by MRP (19 March 2012 -www.mrpresources.com.au for fullannouncement).

The maiden resource, which exceeds the originalexploration target by nearly 150%, is only for blocksmodelled to a depth of 260m below surface, and isopen at depth. It also does not include other silverdeposits already identified within the tenementgroup, and does not account for the othercommodities of gold, lead and copper which arepresent in the mineralisation.

Preliminary pit optimisations are underway andcurrent drilling continues to test extensions open onall sides and to complete the valuation of goldlead/other metals, not included in this optimisation.

There also remains up to another 9 VHMS silver-zinc mineralisation zones on the 110 km2 of MRPtenements yet to be tested.

A preliminary economic assessment has been completed on the March 2012 maiden resource statement, with the initial pit optimisations yieldingan undiscounted NPV of between $124 to $240 million representing the currentsilver/zinc price versus the forecast price, respectively (blue shell – twin pitsversus yellow shell – single big pit). Current drilling is underway to testextensions open on all sides and to complete the valuation of gold/lead/othermetals, not included in this optimisation.

(above) Nimbus Project - Greater than 1000g/m silver equivalent intersections withinmassive sulphides showing greater than 12g/t silver halo.

The Nimbus–Boorara silver-gold-zinc-lead-copper projects comprise of 110 sq km ofcontinuous tenements covering historic silver and gold mining producing sites, and includesexisting silver plant. Approximately 3.6 million ounces of silver was produced at Nimbus at anaverage grade of 352g/t silver from 2004 to 2007. The Boorara tenements cover historic goldmining sites of the Boorara, Crown Jewel, Cataract and North Golden Ridge mines.

A maiden Nimbus Silver Inferred Resource* of 8.6 million ounces was announced 19 March2012, with more deposits being drilled or investigated at depth and at near by silver deposits.Current drilling has intersected primary silver-gold-zinc-lead-copper up to depth of 370metres, up to 20m thick VHMS breccia with HGZ >1,600g/t silver, >31% zinc and >6%lead over 7m core width.

The Coolgardie project area represents a 7km continuous strike length along the MacPhersonsReward Mine line of historical workings. Currently MacPhersons have defined to JORCstandard 140,700 ounces of gold** at MacPhersons Reward and Tycho deposits, with resourcedrilling continuing at Bakers Find/Franks Find, A-Cap, Pumphrey and other targets.

Massive sphalerite and galena in drill core

ABN 98 139 357 967

ASX CODE: MRP

MacPhersons Resources is a WesternAustralian resource company with anumber of advanced silver, gold and zinc exploration projects within closeproximity to Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie.

Share Price (24/3/2012): $0.30Market Cap (at $0.30): $65M

Issued Capital (31/12/2011)Ordinary Shares: 215M Options: 22M

Directors:Ashok Parekh: Exec ChairmanMorrie Goodz: Managing DirectorJeff Williams: Non-Exec Director

Contact DetailsPO Box 10977, 109 Maritana StreetKalgoorlie WA 6430T +61 (0) 8 9091 7515F +61 (0) 8 9091 7610E [email protected] www.MRPresources.com.au

Competent Person's Statement: The information inthis report that relates to mineral resources andexploration results is based on information compiledby Mr Morrie Goodz who is a Fellow of theAustralasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. MrMorrie Goodz is a full time officer of MacPhersonsResources and has sufficient experience which isrelevant to the style of mineralisation and type ofdeposit under consideration and to the activity whichhe is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person asdefined in the 2004 edition of the "Australasian Codefor Reporting of Exploration Results, MineralResources and Ore Reserves". Mr Goodz has givenhis consent to the inclusion in this report of thematters based on the information in the form andcontext in which it appears.

INFERRED SILVER MINERAL RESOURCE NIMBUS Source tonnes Silver g/t Oz SilverOxide/Transitional 560,000 123 2.2MTransitional 480,000 110 1.68MPrimary 1,090,000 133 4.67MTOTAL 2,130,000 125 8.56M

(also containing 28,100t Zinc)

* full details of CSA Global mineral resources estimateat www.MRPresources.com.au

GOLD MACPHERSON TYCHO BOORARAProject Coolgardie Boorara MRP TotalGroup Gold Oz Gold Oz Gold OzIndicated 58,000 53,900 111,900Inferred 82,800 29,700 112,500MRP Total 140,700 84,600 225,300

** full resource table www.MRPresources.com.au

ASX:MRPMacPhersons Resources Limited

overview-gold-275_Layout 1 30/03/12 8:52 AM Page 1

Page 37: AHA Investor April / May 2012

Apr/May 2012 AHA.Investor | 35

Story Name | S E c T I o n n A m E

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MRP 100% Owned Nimbus Projectsilver-gold-zinc-lead-copper

(above) Nimbus silver mine operated from 2003 to2007 producing 3.6 million ounces of silver at anaverage grade of 352 g/t silver. MacPhersons haveappointed a Project Metallurgist, Mr Adrian Hall, tolead the mill recommissioning process. Mr Hallcomes to the company with a recent successfultrack record of recommissioning and expandingprocessing plants in Western Australia.

Nimbus Project Shines

In July 2011, to fast track the opportunity toprocess MacPhersons ore within the MRP business,the Company acquired mill processing and mineassets at the Nimbus Silver Mine, located 8 km fromthe Kalgoorlie SuperPit.

With in-house expertise, and independentconsultants, MRP very quickly established a 6Mozsilver target and commenced an aggressive, buttargeted resource drilling program.

Impressive drill results followed with intersections ofprimary silver-gold-zinc-lead-copper up to depth of370 metres, up to 20m thick VHMS breccia withHGZ >1,600g/t silver, >31% zinc and >6% lead over7m core width (see cross section opposite).

Less than 6 months after the acquisition, and withdrilling at depth and at other targets within thetenement group still continuing, a maiden inferredmineral resource of 2.13Mt at 125g/t silver and1.32% zinc for 8.6Moz silver and 28,100oz zinc hasbeen announced by MRP (19 March 2012 -www.mrpresources.com.au for fullannouncement).

The maiden resource, which exceeds the originalexploration target by nearly 150%, is only for blocksmodelled to a depth of 260m below surface, and isopen at depth. It also does not include other silverdeposits already identified within the tenementgroup, and does not account for the othercommodities of gold, lead and copper which arepresent in the mineralisation.

Preliminary pit optimisations are underway andcurrent drilling continues to test extensions open onall sides and to complete the valuation of goldlead/other metals, not included in this optimisation.

There also remains up to another 9 VHMS silver-zinc mineralisation zones on the 110 km2 of MRPtenements yet to be tested.

A preliminary economic assessment has been completed on the March 2012 maiden resource statement, with the initial pit optimisations yieldingan undiscounted NPV of between $124 to $240 million representing the currentsilver/zinc price versus the forecast price, respectively (blue shell – twin pitsversus yellow shell – single big pit). Current drilling is underway to testextensions open on all sides and to complete the valuation of gold/lead/othermetals, not included in this optimisation.

(above) Nimbus Project - Greater than 1000g/m silver equivalent intersections withinmassive sulphides showing greater than 12g/t silver halo.

The Nimbus–Boorara silver-gold-zinc-lead-copper projects comprise of 110 sq km ofcontinuous tenements covering historic silver and gold mining producing sites, and includesexisting silver plant. Approximately 3.6 million ounces of silver was produced at Nimbus at anaverage grade of 352g/t silver from 2004 to 2007. The Boorara tenements cover historic goldmining sites of the Boorara, Crown Jewel, Cataract and North Golden Ridge mines.

A maiden Nimbus Silver Inferred Resource* of 8.6 million ounces was announced 19 March2012, with more deposits being drilled or investigated at depth and at near by silver deposits.Current drilling has intersected primary silver-gold-zinc-lead-copper up to depth of 370metres, up to 20m thick VHMS breccia with HGZ >1,600g/t silver, >31% zinc and >6%lead over 7m core width.

The Coolgardie project area represents a 7km continuous strike length along the MacPhersonsReward Mine line of historical workings. Currently MacPhersons have defined to JORCstandard 140,700 ounces of gold** at MacPhersons Reward and Tycho deposits, with resourcedrilling continuing at Bakers Find/Franks Find, A-Cap, Pumphrey and other targets.

Massive sphalerite and galena in drill core

ABN 98 139 357 967

ASX CODE: MRP

MacPhersons Resources is a WesternAustralian resource company with anumber of advanced silver, gold and zinc exploration projects within closeproximity to Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie.

Share Price (24/3/2012): $0.30Market Cap (at $0.30): $65M

Issued Capital (31/12/2011)Ordinary Shares: 215M Options: 22M

Directors:Ashok Parekh: Exec ChairmanMorrie Goodz: Managing DirectorJeff Williams: Non-Exec Director

Contact DetailsPO Box 10977, 109 Maritana StreetKalgoorlie WA 6430T +61 (0) 8 9091 7515F +61 (0) 8 9091 7610E [email protected] www.MRPresources.com.au

Competent Person's Statement: The information inthis report that relates to mineral resources andexploration results is based on information compiledby Mr Morrie Goodz who is a Fellow of theAustralasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. MrMorrie Goodz is a full time officer of MacPhersonsResources and has sufficient experience which isrelevant to the style of mineralisation and type ofdeposit under consideration and to the activity whichhe is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person asdefined in the 2004 edition of the "Australasian Codefor Reporting of Exploration Results, MineralResources and Ore Reserves". Mr Goodz has givenhis consent to the inclusion in this report of thematters based on the information in the form andcontext in which it appears.

INFERRED SILVER MINERAL RESOURCE NIMBUS Source tonnes Silver g/t Oz SilverOxide/Transitional 560,000 123 2.2MTransitional 480,000 110 1.68MPrimary 1,090,000 133 4.67MTOTAL 2,130,000 125 8.56M

(also containing 28,100t Zinc)

* full details of CSA Global mineral resources estimateat www.MRPresources.com.au

GOLD MACPHERSON TYCHO BOORARAProject Coolgardie Boorara MRP TotalGroup Gold Oz Gold Oz Gold OzIndicated 58,000 53,900 111,900Inferred 82,800 29,700 112,500MRP Total 140,700 84,600 225,300

** full resource table www.MRPresources.com.au

ASX:MRPMacPhersons Resources Limited

overview-gold-275_Layout 1 30/03/12 8:52 AM Page 1

Page 38: AHA Investor April / May 2012

36 | AHA.Investor Apr/May 2012

S E c T I o n n A m E | Story Name

DAY 1 21st May 20128:20 WelcoMe to the ResouRces & eneRgY sYMposiuM

8:30 Introductory to the must have accessory of RES2012

8:40 MInIStER AddRESS: the Honorable Chris Hartcher, Minister for Resources and energy, nsW

9:00 Keynote Presentation: MICHAEl BlytHE, chief economist, Commonwealth Bank An economic overview

9:30 Keynote Presentation: tHE HonouRABlE JoHn AndERSon, former deputy PM Australia and former Chairman of Eastern Star Gas Agriculture vs mining where to from here

10:00 Keynote Presentation: SIR ERIC nEAl, chancellor emeritus, Flinders university the first era of the coal gas industry

10:40 Morning tea

11:00 Keynote Presentation: AlIStER MCConnEll, Director, structured Finance, origin Capital Group putting more B into your BFs - logistic challenges and current funding market conditions

11:30 Investor Presentation: CARPEntARIA ExPloRAtIon lIMItEd, Quentin Hill, Business Development Manager

11:40 Investor Presentation: CBH RESouRCES lIMItEd, Stephen dennis, Managing Director

11:50 Investor Presentation: KBl MInInG lIMItEd, Stuart Mathews, chief operating officer

12:00 Investor Presentation: AuStRAlIAn BAuxItE lIMItEd, Ian levy, chief executive officer

12:10 Investor Presentation: MInotAuR ExPloRAtIon lIMItEd, Andrew Woskett, Managing Director

12:20 Investor Presentation: MACPHERSonS RESouRCES lIMItEd, Morrie Goodz, Managing Director

12:30 Investor Presentation: BRoKEn HIll PRoSPECtInG lIMItEd, dr Ian Pringle, Managing Director

12:40 lunch

13:30 Keynote Presentation: JoHn RoSKAM, executive Director, the Institute of Public Affairs complacency is not the biggest threat to Australia’s future

14:00 Investor Presentation: BEACon MInERAlS lIMItEd, darryl Harris, Managing Director

14:10 Investor Presentation: GloBAl GEoSCIEnCE lIMItEd, Bernard Rowe, Managing Director

14:20 Investor Presentation: tBc

14:30 Investor Presentation: SAndFIRE RESouRCES nl, Shannan Bamforth, geology Manager – Degrussa Mine

14:40 Investor Presentation: l & M EnERGy lIMItEd, Kent Anson, Managing Director

14:50 Investor Presentation: FoCuS MInERAlS Pty lIMItEd, Campbell Baird, chief executive officer

15:00 Afternoon tea

15:30 Keynote Presentation: JuStIn dI lollo, Managing Director, Hawker Britton Pty limited

16:00 Investor Presentation: MAREnGo MInInG lIMItEd, John Horan, chairman

16:10 Investor Presentation: SIlvER lAKE RESouRCES, les davis, Managing Director

16:20 Investor Presentation: tBc

16:30 Panel discussion: RESouRCES InvEStMEnt chaired by Andrew hines, head of Resources Research, Commonwealth Bank

17:30 close of Day one

DAY 2 22nd May 20128:30 WelcoMe BAck to the ResouRces & eneRgY sYMposiuM keRRY stevenson, MAnAging DiRectoR, sYMposiuM

8:40 Keynote Presentation: dR PAul HEItHERSAy, chief executive, olympic dam task Force the olympic Dam expansion

9:00 Keynote Presentation: JoHn MCGAGH, head of innovation, Rio tinto innovation in mining

9:30 Keynote Presentation: BEn WHItE, ceo, new Rural Industries Australia providing solutions for mining and agriculture not roadblocks

10:00 Keynote Presentation: PRoFESSoR IAn PlIMER, professor of geology, university of Adelaide exploration and mining in Australia: Battles in a hostile environment

10:30 Morning tea

11:00 Keynote Presentation: JASon KuCHEl, chief executive officer, SACoME infrastructure challenges for the south Australian Resources sector

11:30 Investor Presentation: ytC RESouRCES lIMItEd, Rimas Kairaitas, chief executive officer

11:40 Investor Presentation: ConvERGEnt MInERAlS lIMItEd, david Price, Managing Director

11:50 Investor Presentation: SIlvER CIty MInERAlS lIMItEd, Chris torrey, Managing Director

12:00 Investor Presentation: MuSGRAvE MInERAlS lIMItEd, Robert Waugh, Managing Director

12:10 Investor Presentation: tHoMSon RESouRCES lIMItEd, Eion Rothery, chief executive officer

12:20 Investor Presentation: AdElAIdE RESouRCES lIMItEd, Chris drown, Managing Director

12:30 Investor Presentation: MEtAllICA MInERAlS lIMItEd, Andrew Gillies, Managing Director

12:40 lunch

13:30 Keynote Presentation: REG nElSon, Managing Director, Beach Energy

14:00 Keynote Presentation: dR ClAIRE CuRtIS-tHoMAS, chief executive officer, Institute of Gas Engineers and Managers uK Debunking the fracking and shale gas fears

14:30 Investor Presentation: tBc

14:40 Investor Presentation: tBc

14:50 Investor Presentation: tBc

15:00 Afternoon tea

15:30 Keynote Presentation: RICHARd HIllIS, chief executive officer, deep Exploration technologies CRC the future of the minerals industry- the latest updates on new technologies

16:00 Investor Presentation: MItHRIl RESouRCES lIMItEd, Graham Ascough, Managing Director

16:10 Investor Presentation: tBc

16:20 Investor Presentation: MutIny Gold lIMItEd, John Greeve, Managing Director

16:30 Panel discussion: RoCKS, CRoPS And SuStAInABIlIty - Chaired by - Ben White, ceo, new Rural Industries Australia; Panellists - David lord, thackaringa station, ian Wisken, Fifth estate

17:30 close of Day two

19:00 RunGE WIld WESt dInnER

DAY 3 23rd May 20128:45 WelcoMe BAck to the ResouRces & eneRgY sYMposiuM keRRY stevenson, MAnAging DiRectoR, sYMposiuM

9:00 Keynote Presentation: RoBERt dAnE, chairman, Solar Sailor the Future: Analysis of potential Fuel savings available on three Major Bulk shipping Routes by Adding Wind and solar energy

9:30 Keynote Presentation: dR MARtIn BlAKE, chairman, Carbon Zero Solutions taking out the c word

10:00 Keynote Presentation: Rudy GoMEZ, executive chairman, Cartwheel Resources new metal extraction technologies

10:30 Keynote Presentation: lEonIE MCKEon, Managing Director, Chinese language and Cultural lure the tiger down the mountain, succeeding at negotiating with chinese people

11:00 Morning tea

11:30 Keynote Speaker: RICHARd KARn, Managing editor, Emerging trends Report update on specialty metals and supply and demand

12:15 Keynote Presentation: lACHlAn SHAW, commodities Analyst, Commonwealth Bank

13:00 symposium Wrap up - close of Day three

resources & energySYMPOSIUMBROKEN HILL

21-23 MAy 2012 BRoken hill

2012 AGEndA

to RegisteR visit:http://res2012.symposium.net.au/ or call +61 2 9299 4350 symposium

ALWAYS THE RIGHT PEOPLE IN THE ROOM

presented by:

*Agenda is subject to change at the organisers discretion. For most up to date information visit our website www.symposium.net.au

Page 39: AHA Investor April / May 2012

Apr/May 2012 AHA.Investor | 37

Story Name | S E c T I o n n A m E

DAY 1 21st May 20128:20 WelcoMe to the ResouRces & eneRgY sYMposiuM

8:30 Introductory to the must have accessory of RES2012

8:40 MInIStER AddRESS: the Honorable Chris Hartcher, Minister for Resources and energy, nsW

9:00 Keynote Presentation: MICHAEl BlytHE, chief economist, Commonwealth Bank An economic overview

9:30 Keynote Presentation: tHE HonouRABlE JoHn AndERSon, former deputy PM Australia and former Chairman of Eastern Star Gas Agriculture vs mining where to from here

10:00 Keynote Presentation: SIR ERIC nEAl, chancellor emeritus, Flinders university the first era of the coal gas industry

10:40 Morning tea

11:00 Keynote Presentation: AlIStER MCConnEll, Director, structured Finance, origin Capital Group putting more B into your BFs - logistic challenges and current funding market conditions

11:30 Investor Presentation: CARPEntARIA ExPloRAtIon lIMItEd, Quentin Hill, Business Development Manager

11:40 Investor Presentation: CBH RESouRCES lIMItEd, Stephen dennis, Managing Director

11:50 Investor Presentation: KBl MInInG lIMItEd, Stuart Mathews, chief operating officer

12:00 Investor Presentation: AuStRAlIAn BAuxItE lIMItEd, Ian levy, chief executive officer

12:10 Investor Presentation: MInotAuR ExPloRAtIon lIMItEd, Andrew Woskett, Managing Director

12:20 Investor Presentation: MACPHERSonS RESouRCES lIMItEd, Morrie Goodz, Managing Director

12:30 Investor Presentation: BRoKEn HIll PRoSPECtInG lIMItEd, dr Ian Pringle, Managing Director

12:40 lunch

13:30 Keynote Presentation: JoHn RoSKAM, executive Director, the Institute of Public Affairs complacency is not the biggest threat to Australia’s future

14:00 Investor Presentation: BEACon MInERAlS lIMItEd, darryl Harris, Managing Director

14:10 Investor Presentation: GloBAl GEoSCIEnCE lIMItEd, Bernard Rowe, Managing Director

14:20 Investor Presentation: tBc

14:30 Investor Presentation: SAndFIRE RESouRCES nl, Shannan Bamforth, geology Manager – Degrussa Mine

14:40 Investor Presentation: l & M EnERGy lIMItEd, Kent Anson, Managing Director

14:50 Investor Presentation: FoCuS MInERAlS Pty lIMItEd, Campbell Baird, chief executive officer

15:00 Afternoon tea

15:30 Keynote Presentation: JuStIn dI lollo, Managing Director, Hawker Britton Pty limited

16:00 Investor Presentation: MAREnGo MInInG lIMItEd, John Horan, chairman

16:10 Investor Presentation: SIlvER lAKE RESouRCES, les davis, Managing Director

16:20 Investor Presentation: tBc

16:30 Panel discussion: RESouRCES InvEStMEnt chaired by Andrew hines, head of Resources Research, Commonwealth Bank

17:30 close of Day one

DAY 2 22nd May 20128:30 WelcoMe BAck to the ResouRces & eneRgY sYMposiuM keRRY stevenson, MAnAging DiRectoR, sYMposiuM

8:40 Keynote Presentation: dR PAul HEItHERSAy, chief executive, olympic dam task Force the olympic Dam expansion

9:00 Keynote Presentation: JoHn MCGAGH, head of innovation, Rio tinto innovation in mining

9:30 Keynote Presentation: BEn WHItE, ceo, new Rural Industries Australia providing solutions for mining and agriculture not roadblocks

10:00 Keynote Presentation: PRoFESSoR IAn PlIMER, professor of geology, university of Adelaide exploration and mining in Australia: Battles in a hostile environment

10:30 Morning tea

11:00 Keynote Presentation: JASon KuCHEl, chief executive officer, SACoME infrastructure challenges for the south Australian Resources sector

11:30 Investor Presentation: ytC RESouRCES lIMItEd, Rimas Kairaitas, chief executive officer

11:40 Investor Presentation: ConvERGEnt MInERAlS lIMItEd, david Price, Managing Director

11:50 Investor Presentation: SIlvER CIty MInERAlS lIMItEd, Chris torrey, Managing Director

12:00 Investor Presentation: MuSGRAvE MInERAlS lIMItEd, Robert Waugh, Managing Director

12:10 Investor Presentation: tHoMSon RESouRCES lIMItEd, Eion Rothery, chief executive officer

12:20 Investor Presentation: AdElAIdE RESouRCES lIMItEd, Chris drown, Managing Director

12:30 Investor Presentation: MEtAllICA MInERAlS lIMItEd, Andrew Gillies, Managing Director

12:40 lunch

13:30 Keynote Presentation: REG nElSon, Managing Director, Beach Energy

14:00 Keynote Presentation: dR ClAIRE CuRtIS-tHoMAS, chief executive officer, Institute of Gas Engineers and Managers uK Debunking the fracking and shale gas fears

14:30 Investor Presentation: tBc

14:40 Investor Presentation: tBc

14:50 Investor Presentation: tBc

15:00 Afternoon tea

15:30 Keynote Presentation: RICHARd HIllIS, chief executive officer, deep Exploration technologies CRC the future of the minerals industry- the latest updates on new technologies

16:00 Investor Presentation: MItHRIl RESouRCES lIMItEd, Graham Ascough, Managing Director

16:10 Investor Presentation: tBc

16:20 Investor Presentation: MutIny Gold lIMItEd, John Greeve, Managing Director

16:30 Panel discussion: RoCKS, CRoPS And SuStAInABIlIty - Chaired by - Ben White, ceo, new Rural Industries Australia; Panellists - David lord, thackaringa station, ian Wisken, Fifth estate

17:30 close of Day two

19:00 RunGE WIld WESt dInnER

DAY 3 23rd May 20128:45 WelcoMe BAck to the ResouRces & eneRgY sYMposiuM keRRY stevenson, MAnAging DiRectoR, sYMposiuM

9:00 Keynote Presentation: RoBERt dAnE, chairman, Solar Sailor the Future: Analysis of potential Fuel savings available on three Major Bulk shipping Routes by Adding Wind and solar energy

9:30 Keynote Presentation: dR MARtIn BlAKE, chairman, Carbon Zero Solutions taking out the c word

10:00 Keynote Presentation: Rudy GoMEZ, executive chairman, Cartwheel Resources new metal extraction technologies

10:30 Keynote Presentation: lEonIE MCKEon, Managing Director, Chinese language and Cultural lure the tiger down the mountain, succeeding at negotiating with chinese people

11:00 Morning tea

11:30 Keynote Speaker: RICHARd KARn, Managing editor, Emerging trends Report update on specialty metals and supply and demand

12:15 Keynote Presentation: lACHlAn SHAW, commodities Analyst, Commonwealth Bank

13:00 symposium Wrap up - close of Day three

resources & energySYMPOSIUMBROKEN HILL

21-23 MAy 2012 BRoken hill

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Page 40: AHA Investor April / May 2012

38 | AHA.Investor Apr/May 2012

A Road Yet to Be TravelledThis issue we’re taking a closer look at the white metal: Silver. Amongst precious metal enthusiast it’s seen as the more volatile option. Certainly

last year saw strong movements each way that would test the nerve of any investor. In the longer view, the metal itself is up – but for how long and how high are open to debate. Silver fills a dual role as both a precious metal AND an industrial metal. On the surface, this duality

should help bolster value, dampening the effects of swings in either the PM’s or the industrial space. Looking deeper – especially on the paper

contract side of the business, which is dominated by a few key players – and you see the reverse is often true. Major investment houses seeking a quick gain (or to limit exposure!) can fairly easily dominate the smaller

investment space, and so gain advantages – in both directions – that are unavailable to most investors. Clearly, Silver is not for the faint of heart.

To get a better understanding of the metal and the wider view

held at the top, we put ‘All About Gold’ author and precious metals

research specialist Michael Moore on the case.

His view? There’s plenty of shine on the metal yet.

Where is silver heading in 2012 we might wonder. There are a lot

of predictions around for the price of silver in the coming year but perhaps the following may give a clue as to where silver is heading in the Chinese Year of the Dragon.

For hundreds of years the ratio between the two was around 15:1. That is 15 ounces of silver would buy one ounce of gold. In recent years, however, this ratio has changed markedly to where it now ranges around 45 to 55 silver ounces needed to buy one ounce of gold. This dramatic change started about the time the gold standard was removed in 1971 by President Nixon. Prior to that, gold was steady as was silver. As soon as the gold standard was

removed the price of gold naturally shot up from a then 35 dollars an ounce to a new range of 1600 to 1800 dollars an ounce over the course of forty years. However silver did not rise anywhere near the same moving instead from around 5 dollars an ounce up to the current range of 30 to 34 dollars an ounce. If the trend of silver value had followed gold, silver would be around 110 to 115 dollars an ounce by now. So there is room for the silver price to rise.

Another issue to keep in mind is the diminishing supply of silver above ground. The cost of mining silver has steadily increased over the years with rising costs of equipment, labor, running costs and so forth, which means it has not been viable to mine silver for many years as a stand alone metal. In fact most silver is not mined from silver mines at all but as a by-product of other mining activities where the cost can be shared. As a consequence the silver stocks above ground have been diminishing steadily over the years while the demand for silver industrially has continued to increase with the steady expansion of technology. An increase in the silver price would make it more viable to mine silver from existing silver mines and so make up this shortfall.

As demand for silver continues to increase the price of silver should continue to rise also. The longer it takes the supply of silver to catch up with demand the higher the price will eventually go. It is like an elastic band. Pull it too far and it is going to snap back with a vengeance.

About 80 percent of silver mined is used in industry. The balance is shared between photographic, jewellery and investment of which a small percentage, around ten percent, is used. It is amazing, therefore, that the price of silver should be determined by only a small percentage of its users.

Silver:A S S E T I n v E S T m E n T | Silver

Page 41: AHA Investor April / May 2012

Apr/May 2012 AHA.Investor | 39

In view of the fact that industry demand for silver is around 80 percent of supply one would imagine that industry would drive the silver price, but that is not the case.

It has been noted by many silver analysts that the price of silver has been controlled more by some banks manipulating the price of silver by the practice of short selling (shorting: Short selling is the selling of a stock that the seller doesn’t own. More specifically, a short sale is the sale of a security that isn’t owned by the seller, but that is promised to be delivered). This may seem a cack-handed way to make money with silver but when you are dealing in many millions of dollars worth of ‘paper’ silver even the small amounts per ounce can add up very quickly. However this artificial practice is coming under scrutiny and having less effect on the price of silver than it used to do whereupon the giddy ups and downs of the silver price will start to smooth out.

So where is silver bound in 2012?According to a London Trader

reporting on the King World News, “Silver supplies are tight and there are long waits for delivery. Market participants are increasingly realizing that the silver futures market is manipulated and has little bearing on the price of real metal.”

Edward Meir, a metals analyst with commodity advisory service INTL FCStone, recently stated, “Most markets are still overextended and may be entering a ‘buy the rumour, sell the news’ type of mode now that the Greek issue is entering its final stages.”

On the other hand, Australian

media sources are saying that money managers holding silver, gold, and copper futures and options raised their “net long options” last week and as the year marches on some experts are anticipating silver to continue its steady climb and, by 2013, are likely to average around $52.00 an ounce.

For the remainder of 2012, the European Banking Group, BNP Paribas predicts silver prices to rise over the course of the year to $43.80.

A quick investigation of other financial institutes and traders shows the same opinion and the general consensus then is that silver is a healthy commodity to preserve assets and retain spending power. The question then becomes what type of silver to buy?

There are many types of silver and which is the best to buy will depend on a number of factors, why you are buying silver, how much you can buy and how you want to store it immediately come to mind.

If you buying silver simply to protect your assets then the largest silver bars you can buy is the cheapest way to go. The mark up or premium per ounce is less and they can be stored in bank vaults or with secure storage companies such as the Reserve Vault in Brisbane, Qld and Guardian Vaults in Sydney & Melbourne.

If you can only afford to buy small quantities at a time there are many bullion companies around Australia where you can buy silver coins or rounds at just over the spot price. If you are buying large quantities of coins the premium can be negotiated. The coins are generally one

ounce although it is possible to get smaller and larger sizes.

You don’t have to buy all at once of course. Buying a small quantity on a regular basis, say once a month, means you can quickly build up your stocks of silver coins or rounds and also have silver in a form that is easily convertible into cash if the need arises.

Meanwhile, as demand continues to increase, and inflation continues to eats away at your cash, the price of silver will continue to increase over the course of the year.

Either way, now is definitely the time to buy silver.

Michael Moore is a prolific writer and authority on precious metals particularly gold and silver. His book, ‘All about Gold’ is available from the website http://authorservices.org

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_%28finance%29, http://www.gotgoldreport.com/2012/03/comex-large-commercials-step-up-opposition-ahead-of-wednesday-silver-plunge.html, http://www.wealthwire.com/news/metals/2746?r=1, http://www.wealthwire.com/news/metals/2723?r=1, http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2012/2/28_Norcini_-_Silver_Shorts_Literally_Panic%2C_Gold_Shorts_Now_Worried.html

Silver | A S S E T I n v E S T m E n T

Page 42: AHA Investor April / May 2012

40 | AHA.Investor Apr/May 2012

H A R d A S S E T I n v E S T m E n T | Sovereign Man

financial crisisA n engineer, a biologist and an economist

are washed ashore on a desert island. After a few days without food they are

starving. Eventually, they stumble on a can of beans on the beach.

They spend a few minutes considering how they might feed themselves. The engineer is the first to speak: “We could hit the can with a rock until it opens.”

The biologist counters, “We could suspend the can in a seawater solution and wait for erosion to work its magic.” The economist is last to contribute: “Let’s just assume we have a can-opener.”

OK, so it’s not the funniest joke in the universe. But it has the ring of truth.

For example, one colossal presumption of mainstream economic theory holds that the

One of the most overlooked aspects of the

Page 43: AHA Investor April / May 2012

Apr/May 2012 AHA.Investor | 41

Sovereign Man | H A R d A S S E T I n v E S T m E n T

Sound Money. Sound Investments. editor Greg Canavan reveals....

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economic mean reverts to some form of stable equilibrium; all that is required from our enlightened monetary leaders, we are told, is a gentle nudge of this policy lever or that, and the path back to stability is assured.

But what if the presumption is fundamentally wrong at its core? What if the economy is never destined to reach a stable equilibrium- a state in any case analogous in its cold sterility to the dynamism of air molecules in a perfect vacuum?

Judging by recent market action (on the part of equities and euro zone government bond yields), investors would appear to believe that the euro zone debt crisis has been largely resolved.

The market’s supposed saviour has been the European Central Bank, benignly tipping half a trillion euros of liquidity onto the continent’s banks. More pertinently, a crisis of overmuch credit provision seems to have been resolved through the medium of… more credit provision.

Computer scientists coined the phrase “garbage in, garbage out” to describe the vulnerability of computers to process meaningless input data and produce comparably

Judging by recent market action (on the part of equities and euro zone government bond yields), investors would appear to believe that the euro zone debt crisis has been largely resolved.

meaningless output. One could drawn similar conclusions about the modern financial system and all the economic garbage going into it.

It was Nobel laureate William Sharpe, for example, who devised the capital asset pricing model in the 1970s in an attempt to establish the sort of risks that can be reduced by diversification.

But the CAPM (as it became known) also contains a number

Page 44: AHA Investor April / May 2012

42 | AHA.Investor Apr/May 2012

of assumptions about financial markets that can variously be described as either quaint or ridiculous, including:

• Financial markets are perfectly competitive• Tax does not exist; nor do transaction

costs• All investors have the same time horizon• All investors have the same expectations

of returns and volatility• All investors can borrow and lend at one

risk-free rate• Investors can go short any asset and hold

any asset fractionallyClearly the natural world we actually inhabit

simply does not behave according to the sort of models that economists use.

In “The Origin of Wealth,” Eric Beinhocker makes a convincing case that the rot set in to field of economics when serial French loser Leon Walras, having failed as engineer, novelist, journalist and banker, set his mind to this exciting new discipline. Beinhocker writes:

“Prior to Walras, economics was not a mathematical field. Walras and his compatriots were convinced that if the equations of differential calculus could capture the motions of planets and atoms in the universe, these same mathematical techniques could also capture the motion of human minds in the economy.”

And so erroneous, inappropriate, and flawed models were lifted wholesale from the world of physics, and made to fit, somehow, jammed and crammed, no matter what pieces broke or flew off, into the unstable and probably unforecastably wild world of the economy.

This matters. And it may be one of the most overlooked aspects of the financial crisis: widely accepted economic wisdom may be fundamentally inappropriate in “the real economy”, and the scope for potential losses in “the real economy” driven by such fundamentally inappropriate economic wisdom is almost infinite.

The market’s supposed saviour has been the European Central Bank,

benignly tipping half a trillion euros of liquidity onto the continent’s banks

H A R d A S S E T I n v E S T m E n T | Sovereign Man

Page 45: AHA Investor April / May 2012

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Page 46: AHA Investor April / May 2012

44 | AHA.Investor Feb/Mar 2012

H A R d A S S E T I n v E S T m E n T | Are there any currencies backed by gold?

Are there any currencies backed by gold?

dumbfounded.That’s the only way to describe the reaction that

future historians will have when they look back and study the utter perversion that is our global financial system.

We live in a time when a tiny handful of people have their fingers on a button that can conjure trillions of dollars, euro, yen, and renminbi out of thin air. In the United States, it comes down to one man. Just one.

With a single decision, he controls the lever that dominates the entire economy. When you control the money, you control everything– financial markets, consumer prices, risk perceptions, investment habits, savings rates, hiring decisions, pay raises, sovereign debt, housing starts, etc. One man.

This irrational, arrogant system presupposes by design that a central banker is smarter than everyone else; that markets are incapable of determining appropriate risk and value; that he is more effective at allocating our time, capital, and labor than we are.

Future historians will probably also be dumbfounded when they see how long people allowed worthless, unbacked fiat paper to pass as money. It’s extraordinary that most people today happily accept a digital abstraction of paper currency controlled by a single individual as ‘valuable’.

It was more than 5,000 years ago that primitive commodity money was used in Mesopotamia, and it’s been over 3,000 years since metal coins began circulating. For more than 99.2% of human civilization, money actually meant something… right up until 1971 when Richard Nixon ended any remaining link between the dollar and gold.

Ever since, the US government has refused to acknowledge precious metals as money… yet if the Treasury’s financial statements are to be believed, Uncle Sam is still holding 261,498,900 troy ounces of gold. Let’s dismiss the tungsten possibilities for now and presume that it’s real gold. At today’s prices, the value would be about $437 billion.

Meanwhile, M2 money supply at last count was about $9.8 trillion as of March 12, 2012. This means that roughly 4.46% of US dollars in circulation are ‘backed’ by gold, the rest backed by false promises and goodwill.

In the UK, the government’s Exchange Equalisation Account shows 9,971,000 troy ounces of gold on the books. At today’s market value (1,054 British pounds) and the Bank of England’s most recent statement on reserve balances and notes (259.5 billion pounds), Britain’s gold supply constitutes roughly 4.05% of pounds in circulation.

Simply put, the price of gold would have to rise 20-25 times in order for the US and British governments’ gold assets to match the supply of money in circulation.

In fairness, very few countries hold meaningful gold positions when compared to their money supplies. Even Singapore, generally regarded as having one of the healthiest balance sheets on the planet, holds a mere 2% of its money supply in gold.

(Singapore does, however, consistently run budget surpluses and control two sovereign wealth funds which manage the equivalent of 130% of GDP…)

Lebanon is an exception. According to Banque du Liban statistics, the value of Lebanon’s gold holdings is equivalent to nearly 50% of the country’s money supply. To boot, Lebanese banks tend to have very high liquidity ratios and are willing to open accounts for most nationalities.

The problem with Lebanon is that the country is deep in debt– well over 100% of GDP.

With an additional $30 billion in foreign reserves on the books (i.e. other people’s paper), though, Lebanon does have the capacity to pay off over half of its debt. And there are a number of state-owned companies that could be privatized to generate even more revenue.

Given the how sophisticated government corruption is in Lebanon, though, such solutions may never come to pass. Go figure… the one place on earth where the currency is actually backed by something becomes the next shoe to drop.

Fortunately there is another place worth considering. For now, gold only comprises about 5% of Mongolia’s $4 billion money supply. Not much. But the important thing to pay attention to is the trend.

A few months ago, the government of Mongolia nearly doubled its gold holdings to 3.5 tons. This is a huge move.

Given the massive resources in the country (coal, copper, gold, oil, uranium, etc.), Mongolia is set to become one the world’s richest countries. And I think we can expect them to continue trading out paper reserves for the gold that’s already under their soil.

It’s possible that, if the trend holds, Mongolia’s gold holdings will back 10% to 25% of the tugrik money supply in just a few years’ time. Over the same period, gold holdings in the US, UK, and Europe will probably decline to less than 2% of their perpetually inflating money supplies.

Moreover, bank accounts denominated in the Mongolian currency (tugrik) yield an impressive 13% to 15% for savers. As far as paper goes, this one actually may be worth betting on.

by Simon Black

Page 47: AHA Investor April / May 2012

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Aug/Sep 2011 AHA.Investor | 15

Taking Stock | H a r d a s s e t I n v e s t m e n t

Taking STock

By Greg Canavan, sound money. sound Investments

14 | AHA.Investor Aug/Sep 2011

t hroughout 2011, one of the great frustrations of precious metals investors has been the prolonged underperformance of the gold stocks relative to the gold price. The general sales spiel from the investment community is that gold stocks give you leverage to the gold price. So if bullion rises by, say, five per cent, you should expect your gold stocks to do even better.

The script hasn’t gone according to plan this year. As you can see on the accompanying chart, since the start of the year the gold price (as measured by the gold ETF, ASX code: GOLD) has increased by around five per cent. But the gold stock index has declined nearly 10 per cent.

This is reverse leverage and not the way things are meant to work!

A new dawn? Gold miners balance increased profitably

& increased costs

H a r d a s s e t I n v e s t m e n t | Taking Stock

Wall St to Main St: gold exchange traded funds (ETF’s) are becoming far more mainstream

With the Eurozone in crisis and the U.S. economy continuing to limp along, it’s getting harder to spot the easy winners. With Gold starting to rise again, Sound Money Sound Investments editor Greg Canavan takes a closer look at the stocks that underpin the companies that produce our favourite heavy metal.

Raphael Jewellers | C l a s s i C s & C o l l e C t i b l e sC l a s s i C s & C o l l e C t i b l e s | Raphael Jewellers

Making it

Aug/Sep 2011 AHA.Investor | 37

Raphael JewellersW here are – initially – two

fundamental things you need to know about investing in diamonds. They can be a terrific investment: just like gold,

diamond prices have been heading up and up, with no ceiling in sight as yet.

Walking into the Strand Arcade, built in 1891 in Sydney’s George Street, the overall impression is of soaring glass and wrought iron, sunlight, tiles and timber. Up in the second tier of shops above the ground floor lies the polished gem within the arcade’s extravagant setting: Raphael Jewellers.

Occupying two shop fronts, the store is decorated with an eclectic collection of stunning antiques that act as a context for the precious jewellery and objets d’art produced on site by jeweller brothers, Raphael and Joseph Akelian.

Although my interview is with Joseph, he is occupied with clients when I arrive, and I am greeted by his older brother Raphael, who founded the business in 1988. Originally intending to follow his father into medicine, Raphael had only just begun his studies as a young man, when he was asked to assist a neighbour, a diamond merchant, in his back yard studio. There, his passion for crafting precious jewellery bloomed, and he never looked back.

Sixteen years younger, Joseph grew up in the business, coming in after school to sit by his brother at the workbench and be inspired. He says he loved the glamour and the charm of it all. One day when he was 16, Raphael told him he would be serving everyone who came in to the store that afternoon. After each customer, Raphael critiqued his service and gave him pointers for improvement.

He was evidently a natural, however. His favourite aspect of the business is interacting with the clients; getting to know them and their tastes; creating a warm and gracious atmosphere. As we talk, Joseph

Hard Assets. All too often, it’s easy to focus on the bottom line - the purity of the bullion, the carat, clarity & cut of a fine diamond. But sometimes - sometimes - a hard asset can be just this, and also so much more. In the rarified world of high-end, hand made investment jewellery, value becomes the sum of many parts, magnfied by the skill of the artisan. AHA Investor goes behind the scenes into this world where beauty intermingles with lasting value.

Linnet Good reports.

frequently waves to people passing by the window. He has clearly built strong, friendly relationships with the arcade’s traders and clientele.

Inspired by European and English traditions, the business harks back to the old idea of developing the relationship between a client and his or her jeweller. Clients don’t just purchase one piece; they build up an investment collection over time. Joseph and Raphael get to know the buyers and their families, to understand their tastes and style, and they develop a feel for what will appeal to each of them.

One client wanted to give his partner some “fun, diamond drop earrings”. Joseph says that by “fun”, the gentleman meant long and sparkly. They knew that the lady in question was elegant and quite conservative, and they went through a careful process to develop something that would interpret and satisfy the inspiration but also be something that she would actually wear.

The end result was lovely: long drop earrings with an antique feel to the central piece, with more

modern, kite shapes at either end; all covered in diamonds. The earrings have a lot of natural movement, constituting part of their beauty. Joseph says, “We’re sure she’ll love them.”

He describes the design style at Raphael

Jewellers as “classic with an edge”. Classic, because anyone spending thousands of dollars on a piece of jewellery will want it to be timeless – and wearable – rather than faddish, but the Raphael customer also appreciates that nothing here is ordinary. Everything is distinctive, and most pieces are unique.

With jewellery at this level, Joseph explains, there’s no point to having the best gem in the world if the setting does it no justice, or the best setting in the world for an inferior stone. The quality of the craftsmanship, the stone/s, the setting and the design concept must all be excellent. Every element comes together to produce a piece with a value that goes beyond the intrinsic price of materials plus labour.

“Clients don’t just purchase one piece;

they build up an investment collection

over time.”

36 | AHA.Investor Aug/Sep 2011

Raphael Jewellers | C l a s s i C s & C o l l e C t i b l e sC l a s s i C s & C o l l e C t i b l e s | Raphael Jewellers

Making it

Aug/Sep 2011 AHA.Investor | 37

Raphael Jewellers Where are – initially – two fundamental things you need to know about investing in diamonds. They can be a terrific investment: just like gold,

diamond prices have been heading up and up, with no ceiling in sight as yet.

Walking into the Strand Arcade, built in 1891 in Sydney’s George Street, the overall impression is of soaring glass and wrought iron, sunlight, tiles and timber. Up in the second tier of shops above the ground floor lies the polished gem within the arcade’s extravagant setting: Raphael Jewellers.

Occupying two shop fronts, the store is decorated with an eclectic collection of stunning antiques that act as a context for the precious jewellery and objets d’art produced on site by jeweller brothers, Raphael and Joseph Akelian.

Although my interview is with Joseph, he is occupied with clients when I arrive, and I am greeted by his older brother Raphael, who founded the business in 1988. Originally intending to follow his father into medicine, Raphael had only just begun his studies as a young man, when he was asked to assist a neighbour, a diamond merchant, in his back yard studio. There, his passion for crafting precious jewellery bloomed, and he never looked back.

Sixteen years younger, Joseph grew up in the business, coming in after school to sit by his brother at the workbench and be inspired. He says he loved the glamour and the charm of it all. One day when he was 16, Raphael told him he would be serving everyone who came in to the store that afternoon. After each customer, Raphael critiqued his service and gave him pointers for improvement.

He was evidently a natural, however. His favourite aspect of the business is interacting with the clients; getting to know them and their tastes; creating a warm and gracious atmosphere. As we talk, Joseph

Hard Assets. All too often, it’s easy to focus on the bottom line - the purity of the bullion, the carat, clarity & cut of a fine diamond. But sometimes - sometimes - a hard asset can be just this, and also so much more. In the rarified world of high-end, hand made investment jewellery, value becomes the sum of many parts, magnfied by the skill of the artisan. AHA Investor goes behind the scenes into this world where beauty intermingles with lasting value.

Linnet Good reports.

frequently waves to people passing by the window. He has clearly built strong, friendly relationships with the arcade’s traders and clientele.

Inspired by European and English traditions, the business harks back to the old idea of developing the relationship between a client and his or her jeweller. Clients don’t just purchase one piece; they build up an investment collection over time. Joseph and Raphael get to know the buyers and their families, to understand their tastes and style, and they develop a feel for what will appeal to each of them.

One client wanted to give his partner some “fun, diamond drop earrings”. Joseph says that by “fun”, the gentleman meant long and sparkly. They knew that the lady in question was elegant and quite conservative, and they went through a careful process to develop something that would interpret and satisfy the inspiration but also be something that she would actually wear.

The end result was lovely: long drop earrings with an antique feel to the central piece, with more

modern, kite shapes at either end; all covered in diamonds. The earrings have a lot of natural movement, constituting part of their beauty. Joseph says, “We’re sure she’ll love them.”

He describes the design style at Raphael

Jewellers as “classic with an edge”. Classic, because anyone spending thousands of dollars on a piece of jewellery will want it to be timeless – and wearable – rather than faddish, but the Raphael customer also appreciates that nothing here is ordinary. Everything is distinctive, and most pieces are unique.

With jewellery at this level, Joseph explains, there’s no point to having the best gem in the world if the setting does it no justice, or the best setting in the world for an inferior stone. The quality of the craftsmanship, the stone/s, the setting and the design concept must all be excellent. Every element comes together to produce a piece with a value that goes beyond the intrinsic price of materials plus labour.

“Clients don’t just purchase one piece;

they build up an investment collection

over time.”

36 | AHA.Investor Aug/Sep 2011 Aug/Sep 2011 AHA.Investor | 15

Taking Stock | H a r d a s s e t I n v e s t m e n t

Taking STock

By Greg Canavan, sound money. sound Investments

14 | AHA.Investor Aug/Sep 2011

throughout 2011, one of the great frustrations of precious metals investors has been the prolonged underperformance of the gold stocks relative to the gold price. The general sales spiel from the investment community is that gold stocks give you leverage to the gold price. So if bullion rises by, say, five per cent, you should expect your gold stocks to do even better.

The script hasn’t gone according to plan this year. As you can see on the accompanying chart, since the start of the year the gold price (as measured by the gold ETF, ASX code: GOLD) has increased by around five per cent. But the gold stock index has declined nearly 10 per cent.

This is reverse leverage and not the way things are meant to work!

A new dawn? Gold miners balance increased profitably

& increased costs

H a r d a s s e t I n v e s t m e n t | Taking Stock

Wall St to Main St: gold exchange traded funds (ETF’s) are becoming far more mainstream

With the Eurozone in crisis and the U.S. economy continuing to limp along, it’s getting harder to spot the easy winners. With Gold starting to rise again, Sound Money Sound Investments editor Greg Canavan takes a closer look at the stocks that underpin the companies that produce our favourite heavy metal.

PLUS:

Gold, Diamonds, Bulls & Bears:The Cohens: Three generations of diamond & bullion traders(and why gold is money)

PersPectiveson Profit

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Noah coinsSydney based bullion wholesalers

Bullion List will be distributing a new range of silver bullion coins depicting

Noah’s Ark to the Australian market. Authorised by the Armenian Central

Bank and manufactured in association with Geiger Edelmetalle GmbH of Leipzig, Germany the Noah’s Ark range of coins are made of 99.9% fine silver.

The coins’ obverse features the elegant Armenian Coat of Arms, face value in Armenian Dram, the coins’ weight, purity, year of issue and the inscription “Republic of Armenia” in both Armenian and English.

The reverse shows a depiction of Noah’s Ark, framed by Mount Ararat in the background and a dove clutching a twig from an olive tree in it’s beak.

According to the Book of Genesis, God commanded Noah to build the Ark to save himself, his family and a pair of every species of animal from the great deluge He was about to unleash on the world as punishment for man’s wickedness. As

the flood waters receded, the Ark came to rest in the mountains of Ararat. The story of Noah’s Ark features prominently throughout the writings of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Although no longer Armenian territory, Mount Ararat remains a national symbol of Armenian pride, both in its rich, ancient history and its rebirth as an independent, sovereign state.

The Noah’s Ark bullion coin range will be available in 1/4oz, 1/2oz, 1oz, 5oz, 10oz, 1kg and 5kg sizes. Coins up to and including 1oz come packaged in tubes of 20 coins, vacuum sealed with inert gas to prevent tarnishing of the metal. Coins 5oz and above come packaged in individual capsules made from PVC-free plastic.

Large orders will be shipped in custom made wooden boxes featuring an embossed Armenian Coat of Arms, mint-sealed with straps and accompanied by certificates of authenticity.

n U m I S m A T I c S | Noah Coins

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The story of Noah and the Ark is well known to many of us, even if we haven’t seen the inside of a church for a while. What might not be quite so well known is that this passage from the first book of the bible has appeared in other narratives in time and place. Whether this gives proof to the narrative or indicates it is just a much told fable is open to conjecture and faith.

The account of the flood or deluge is an important aspect of the elemental history of the Old Testament. It holds mythological parallels preserved in other texts and iconography of the Ancient Near East; most notably within parts of the Epic of Gilgamesh (written in 2750 – 2500 BC and considered to be the world’s oldest story); and the Atrahasis myths of early Mesopotamia (dating back to 1647-1626 BC)

However, as an aside, it is believed that in about 5600BC, the Mediterranean Sea broke through the land bridge at the mouth to the Black Sea at the Bosphorus, now Istanbul, and flooded the surrounding countryside. This rise in the sea would have inundated the whole ancient Near East and given rise to the many flood epics of the era. These stories would have been passed on orally for three millennia until the development of writing and the precursors of the Noah story.

The “Epic of Gilgamesh” comes to us from Ancient Sumeria, on the banks of the Euphrates, from about 2750 to 2500 BCE. Originally written in cuneiform script, it is contained on the eleventh of twelve clay tablets

in the Babylonian language. This 5,000 year old text is believed to be the oldest known recording of human thought. It’s an odd read (in the editor’s opinion); but has many fascinating parallels – including the tale of Noah:

“When a seventh day arrived I sent forth a dove and released it. The dove went off, but came back to me; no perch was visible so it circled back to me. I sent forth a swallow and released it. The swallow went off, but came back to me; no perch was visible so it circled back to me. I sent forth a raven and released it. The raven went off, and saw the waters slither back. It eats, it scratches, it bobs, but does not circle back to me” Gilgamesh.

Within the Gilgamesh epic, the ark is said to have rested on Mount Nimush in Persia, now modern day Iran.

The Mesopotamian account of the Great Flood comes to us from the Epic of Atrahasis. The text is known from several versions: two written by Assyrian scribes (one in the Assyrian, one in the Babylonian dialect), the third one (on three tablets) was written during the reign of king Ammi-saduqa of Babylonia (1647-1626 BCE) which helps date the text.

The story of the Flood is the final part of this epic, which starts with complaints by the Lesser Gods, who refuse to work any longer. Humankind is created, but men make so much noise, that the gods decide to wipe them out. The plan to send a Deluge, however, is betrayed by the god Enki, who sends a dream to the hero

Atrahasis to warn him of the impending flood. Actually, Enki speaks to the walls of Atrahasis’ reed hut:

“Wall, listen constantly to me! Reed hut, make sure you attend to all my words! Dismantle the house, build a boat, . . . Roof it like the Apsu so the sun cannot see inside it! Make upper decks and lower decks, The tackle must be very strong, The bitumen, also strong.” Atrahasis

Again, further parallels to the Noah’s Ark story.

These three stories, Gilgamesh, Atrahasis and Noah span two thousand years and three separate civilisations. Some might say that with multiple sources there may be more to the story of Noah’s Ark than a simple tale form the Old Testament.

Myth is a complex cultural phenomenon that can be approached from a number of viewpoints. In general, myth is a narrative that describes and portrays in symbolic language the origin of the basic elements and assumptions of a culture. Because myths refer to an extraordinary time and place, and to gods and other supernatural beings and processes, they have usually been seen as an aspect of religion.

Thus, the story of a long ago flood, has been retold, embellished, and assimilated into popular culture, and has finally been incorporated into the holy canon. It is from the Noah story that the Noah’s Ark coin has come to us.

Sam Alexander, edits by Mike Woodcock

Noah’s Ark11. And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her

mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. Genesis 8:11

Noah Coins | n U m I S m A T I c S

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A R T I n v E S T m E n T | Fine Art

Adam Chang, Mao & Terracotta Army Marching. Oil on Linen, 220cm x 330cm.

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On a cold February evening the auction market laid down it’s marker for the new trading year with Christies’ Impressionist and Modern Evening sale. The anticipation was palpable and the crowd didn’t

have long to wait to get the answer they were looking for when Henry Moore’s Reclining Figure – Festival obliterated it’s pre-sale estimates of £3.5 – 4.5M setting a new auction record for the artist’s work of £19.08M (AU$28.18M). By the end of the sale, which also included a record for Joan Miro’s Painting-Poem which sold for £16.84M (AU$24.87M), a total of £135M (AU$199.41M) had sold under the gavel. That’s 99.8% more than the Australian Auction turnover for the whole of 2011.

The first major sale for 2012 had certainly put down a marker.I have been referenced and written about the shift towards so-called

Passion investments in recent years, but if you ever needed evidence that UHNW / HNW Individuals are continually gravitating to the art market as a genuine alternative and store of wealth, then seeing these results in context, this should be viewed as a Damascus moment. Bear in mind, Greece still hadn’t been bailed out at that point and the European economy was dangling from the precipice grappling to prevent a Greek default and the Eurozone falling headlong into the perceived abyss.

I don’t care how wealthy someone is £20M is still £20M and whether the traditionalists want to accept it or not, an investment decision would have been made. You can do a helluva lot with 20M quid……like buying Crete for example.

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Orange Sports Figure was sold through Christies in 1992 for US$60,000.00 (by no means a record price for the artist’s work at the time) prior to Sothebys placing it on the cover of the catalogue for the February Contemporary sale in London. Orange Sports Figure sold for £4.07M / US$6.38M with CAGR of 26.28%. One of the most common questions I get asked by Art investors is “How can I get the next Basquiat / Warhol / Lichenstein / Whiteley / Brack etc?”

Entering any market for the first time can be a daunting prospect, particularly when that market operates and reacts to a different set of market forces and has a reputation for being somewhat opaque. Yet, the evidence above suggests that when purchased wisely, Fine Art can be a great way of providing added diversification to a broader portfolio. So how do we get started?

Rule # 1: We come back to those traditional bedfellows of sound portfolio management – research, market intelligence and expertise. It is worth taking the time to educate yourself and familiarize yourself with the market. Attend gallery openings and Fine Art auctions, read publications to get a feel for how the market is reacting and behaving.

Rule # 2: Establish what your budget and risk profile are going to be – while this is likely to be given, it is understanding whether not your budget and your risk profile are aligned. The opportunity to purchase a key work by a blue-chip artist with a budget of AU$25,000.00 simply doesn’t exist

Fine Art | A R T I n v E S T m E n T

six simple rules

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A R T I n v E S T m E n T | Fine Art

– even in this market. The key is to try and acquire the best possible work you can for the money you are paying. AU$25,000.00 will get a major work by a very good mid-career artist but the risk is heightened – Adam Cullen would be an example.

Rule # 3: Understand the risks – Making an acquisition made in the primary market carries a unique risk that would seem to conflict with every ounce of an investor’s psyche – particularly when investing in an emerging artist’s work. Coming to terms with the fact that if you try to on-sell the work within a month or a year or even a couple of years, you will probably not get what you paid for the work initially. The less established the artist, the higher the risk. The key is that it is long term and secondly, prior to investing, you understand the risks and how to manage them. In many respects it is no different from looking at a small-cap speculative stock – lower entry point, higher risk but if acquired wisely, the potential to realise a higher return.

Rule # 4: Avoid the three deadly sins of art investment: Taking auction data at face value, under estimating liquidity and chasing the masterpiece/signature.

Rule # 5: Remember Artists don’t create investments…they create Art. Appreciate the skill

Rule # 6: the Artist’s CV and profile – curatorial acclaim, Corporate and Major Collections acquiring the work, consistency of selling out exhibitions, auction activity.

The second most common question I get asked - I do get asked a lot of

questions - is “who should I buy / invest in”. Now the answer to this is never going to be a straight forward one as each individuals motivations, objectives and goals are different, so rather than state who I think you should buy, I’ve decided to give a snap-shot of a handful of artists I am focusing on and some reasons why;

1. Jeremy Kibel – (Emerging) An Archibald Finalist in 2011 and again this year, the Melbourne-based artist was the winner of the inaugural Substation Contemporary Art Prize in 2011. His work morphs cubist ideology with street-art grittiness. Works range from AU$5,000 – 15,000.00

2. Adam Chang – (Mid-Career) Chang is hung for the 5th consecutive year in the Archibald Prize and is the hot favourite to win this year. Winner of the 2011 People’s Choice, it is the activity and appetite for his work in China that is most interesting. His work is held in major institutional, corporate and private collections in Australia and China. Works are incredibly difficult to acquire and prices start at AU$75,000.00.

3. Rosemary Laing – (Mid-Career) A highly sought-after photographer with the Bulletproof Glass (Bride) Series attracting enormous attention. Prices at auction have seen works from this series trade between AU$12,000 – 17,000.00 but they are rare offerings. Held in collections such as the Art Gallery of NSW, Laing has also had solo exhibitions in museums around the world as well as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. Her work is held in major institutional collections world-wide.

4. Blek le Rat – (Mid-Career) Street art is fast becoming a major oeuvre in the global art market and the Frenchman is widely regraded as the Godfather of Stencil Art. With an auction record of US$45,000.00 and consistency of sales over US$20,000.00 when work is presented at auction. In the primary market (if you can get them) range from AU$2,000 – 100,000.00. What is clear is that as Street Art continues to develop, it will spark the interest of Contemporary Museums and with that you can expect to see the Godfather amongst those collections in years to come.

5. Edward Burra – (Blue Chip) A member of the British group Unit One which included Henry Moore, Paul Nash and Ben Nicholson. Regarded as the most significant water colourist since JWM Turner, Burra spent

Wentja Napaltjarri, Rockhole West of Kintore AEWMN6001201PA. Acrylic on Linen, 122cm x 121cm.

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Fine Art | A R T I n v E S T m E n T

much of his time in the US and in Spain. Like Leon Kossoff & LS Lowry , there has been a major pricing shift in both primary and secondary markets for Burra over the past few years which has by no means been hindered by a terrestrial series on Burra’s work. Major works post-1936 Spanish civil war era, are now commanding prices between £1 – 2M. The Top 10 Auction prices are all over £100,000.00,with the top 5 prices sitting in excess of £250,000.00 and the record being £2.06M

6. Leon Kossoff – (Blue Chip) There is momentum building on Kossoff’s work which was typified by a new auction record set earlier this year of £750,000.00. He is recognised as one of the key painters from the London School along with Freud, Frank Auerbach and Francis Bacon, all of whom have seen their prices escalate significantly in the last decade at auction. His work is held in a number of key collections around the world.

7. Chen Ping – (Emerging) Represented by Pearl Lam in China and sell out exhibitions in Sydney, New York, Miami and Shanghai in 2011, Chen Ping is becoming hot property. No auction record to speak of and primary market works range from AU$7,000 – 20,000.00. I referenced Chen Ping as a case study a few issues ago and my view hasn’t changed!

8. Anthony Lister – (Emerging / Mid-Career) the New York-based Australian artist is regarded as one of the most influential Urban/Street artists. Major canvases trade around the AU$15,000.00.

9. John Olsen – (Blue Chip) Olsen really needs little introduction but I ma very specific in the works I am watching by Australia’s Greatest Living Artist. Oils from the mid to late 1960’s and from 1984 – 1989 are of most interest for me. An auction record of AU$1.09M, prices in the primary market for watercolours range from AU$75,000 – 120,000.00 and Oils start from circa AU$150,000.00.

10. Wentja Napaltjarri – (Mid-Career) With works held in the major collections of Aboriginal art around the world, prices are still relatively soft for Wentja. Works start from AU$15,000 and can carry through to in excess of AU$120,000. A relatively meagre auction record of AU$38,000.00 was set in 2009.

The outside bet: Luke Cornish (ELK). Selected as the finalist for the Archibald in 2012, big things are expected from the young stencil artist. Prices for major works are circa $7 – 10K for now!

Fine Art purchased wisely continues to demonstrate its capacity as a strong long term alternative and store of wealth. Of course the trick is buying wisely – the investment will always lie in the quality.

Alistair Bailey

The key is to try and acquire the best possible

work you can for the money you are paying

ELK (Luke Cornish), Fighter Guy. Spray on Board, 153cm x 74cm.

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When searching for Gold stocks to buy there are certain criteria that I check before further consideration. In this issue of AHA Investor I

will be taking a look at Carrick Gold and how they stack up against the checklist.

Cash Position. In these turbulent times I am generally looking for a company who can self fund for at least the next 6 months. The European debt crisis has caused havoc in the markets for the past couple of years and there looks to be nothing in the way of a market calming resolution in sight. The last thing you want to see is a company trying to raise capital where the share price has declined with the rest of the market.

Carrick Gold had $14.25m cash at the end of the December 2011 quarter ($12.5m quoted in February 23rd announcement). Their cash burn rate is currently

around $7m per annum and company updates have indicated this should last through to production expected in late 2012. The recent Mt Jewell acquisition will bring that forward, but I can buy shares today confident that they won’t get caught having to dilute shareholders significantly if the share price drops short term.

Capital/Share Structure. The number of shares that a company has on issue can vary greatly based on the age of a company, whether they’ve actioned any share splits or consolidations and how regularly they issue shares to raise capital.

2 years ago (end March Quarter 2010) Carrick Gold had around the same number of shares on issue as they have today. $18m was raised in January 2010 and this along with existing cash has funded them through the past couple of years and looks like it will see them

Carrick Gold AIMING FOR PRODUCTION IN 2012

When we started this issue we wanted to get to the bottom of a Gold Mine. And hey who wouldn’t? But there are risks, so after having a look at the market, we decided the best guide we could offer you was the

Bullion Baron. His analysis is insightful, and readily accessible – moreover, he asks the kind of questions that you’d love ask yourself. Rather than just climb down a pit, he’s worked his magic on explorers Carrick Gold as they

transition from exploration into full production mode.

m I n I n G & m I n E R A L S | Mining News

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Apr/May 2012 AHA.Investor | 53

through to production later this year.Management. Quite a few Gold exploration

companies have popped up over the past couple of years where the management has little experience in Gold mining or exploration. In some cases the management team might consist of little more than a lawyer, accountant and investment banker.

Carrick Gold doesn’t have this problem with John McKinstry as Managing Director and Laurence Freedman as Chairman. McKinstry is a mining engineer with 20 years experience in operations with international mining companies such as Newmont, Normandy and more recently as CEO of North Queensland Metals. Freedman began his career with Gold Fields Group, initially as an analyst, rising to director of group companies, including Commonwealth Mining

Investments and has held director and/or chairman roles in a number of Australian and internationally publicly listed companies since.

JORC Resource. Without a geology degree it can be difficult for most investors to interpret drilling results and just how prospective a tenement/gold deposit owned by a resource company might be. The JORC Code provides minimum standards for public reporting to ensure that investors can make an informed decision based on results and estimates being reported.

Previous Management of the company had announced a resource of over 4m ounces of Gold existing over multiple deposits however a re-evaluation of the database has seen the new management scrap these figures and start over with the new JORC resource consisting 14,218,000t at 1.7g/t for

Mining News | m I n I n G & m I n E R A L S

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761,400oz Gold as of January 23rd (with multiple upgrades to specific deposits announced since pushing the total resource to over 800,000oz Gold).

Liquidity. As I write this article there are only a handful of buyers and sellers on either side of the market for Carrick Gold. While many long term investors may be wary of the speculative way in which day traders push around the share price of their company, these short term traders can assist by providing liquidity and the ability for investors to buy and sell the stock more easily.

A low level of liquidity can scare away investors as it makes it more difficult to exit the stock when needed, but it can also benefit holders as when buyers overrun the sellers the share price can jump higher very quickly. 10-15% moves higher in the Carrick Gold share price aren’t uncommon when interest has picked up at times.

The low level of liquidity can largely be attributed by the large number of shares held by the top 20 shareholders (over 80% by the top 20).

Following a review of their history and current position I spoke with Carrick Gold’s Managing Director John McKinstry.

After dropping the 4m+ ounce Gold resource that was used by past management Carrick Gold has aggressively been drilling to define a JORC resource/reserves which its shareholders (and company management) can have confidence in to progress with production. This resulted in a project resource of 761,400oz Gold as of January 23rd. Several upgrades have been released since.

What is the total current LKK project resource/reserve size following recent upgrades at both Kurnalpi and Lindsay?

On completion of the recent acquisition deal on Mt Jewell, Carrick now has Total Resources of 986,400 oz Resource and 102,900oz Reserve, with more Reserve conversion expected over the coming months.How quickly do you see the project JORC resource growing as drilling continues? Can you provide an estimate on where you see the resource and reserves in 12 months?

This team has only been together of a year and focus has been on what the proper resources are and converting what we could of that to Reserves. I’m always wrong on these predictions, but believe doubling both the Resource and Reserve is achievable – and still leaves more to be found in new discoveries.

m I n I n G & m I n E R A L S | Mining News

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m I n I n G & m I n E R A L S | Mining News

Can you comment briefly on the reasons that the previous resource of 4m ounces was dropped and what methods you’ve changed to produce the new resource?

We don’t really want to dwell on that – suffice to say we were not satisfied that it was a JORC compliant number and have developed our own estimate which we obviously have confidence in. We love the ground we have, and expect that one day we may well have drill tested enough to declare a resource that large.Carrick Gold’s flagship LKK Project consists of several smaller projects/deposits and other regional tenements are also owned. The short term focus is on reaching production, but what plans does Carrick Gold have for increasing their footprint near existing tenements or elsewhere?

We just recently announced a deal on the Mt Jewell tenements which are situated near Carrick’s Lindsay’s project. This acquisition adds two new deposits with 186,000oz in Resource, and these are sufficiently drilled to include in our production plans. This fits neatly with our strategy to dominate the region between the Paddington and Carosue Dam operations. To do this, we need to be able to apply the proper resources to exploring as well as developing up the deposits. Are there any plans to increase the size of Carrick Gold’s holdings in the district of the current tenements (or if not can you comment on plans for exploration in those areas outside of the main project area)?

The Mt Jewell acquisition takes our landholding in the region from 860Km2 to 1320km2, which is a substantial increase requiring us to take on more professional staff. This is proving to be one of the biggest challenges. We need to ensure that we are properly resourced to explore and develop. Has the purchase of any additional projects located elsewhere (Australia or overseas) been considered (or under consideration now)?

No, we are focus on that ground around Kalgoorlie and all our efforts are being put into getting to production.There has been speculation over the years that Carrick Gold’s deposits were being developed with the intention of catching interest as a potential takeover target. However recent company communication has made it clear that intention is to take through to production.

Can you confirm that the company is intending on taking the LKK project through to production and not seeking interest for takeover?

Absolutely, that may have been the case before the new board and management team came on board. I am a mining engineer firstly – I would feel cheated if we were taken over before I had a chance to do what I was employed to do – which was to get mining.Recent company presentations have pointed to spare capacity at 3 nearby plants with the potential for

processing/toll treating rather than going to the expense of constructing another plant specifically for Carrick Gold’s ore. Also KCAA has been engaged to carry out a heap leaching scoping study.

Has Carrick Gold initiated talks with the plant owners for toll treating or can you provide a timeframe in which we can expect more information?

Yes we have had talks with all three and no doubt there is both capacity and interest. Until recently we have not had enough detail to get into any serious negotiation – that is changing quickly. Our goal has to develop something more akin to a strategic alliance to develop a region rather than just having a place to process ore.What amount of free capacity is at the plants that might be utilised?

Each plant has different needs. For a couple it is about keeping efficiency up through maximising throughput – for a couple it is also a possible justification for expansion. We have hard ore and soft ore – two prefer soft – the other prefers hard! It may be that we deal with more than one.A cost of $898 per ounce (Brilliant Pit) was recently suggested in a presentation, was this based on a toll treating option?

No, it was based on operating as a JV. Toll treating would only be viable for the higher grade portion.When can we expect the scoping study assessing the potential processing methods that could be used?

The ‘scoping study’ at the moment is looking at the various scenarios. Each mill has different milling costs and costs to get the ore there – that in turn drives the economics of the pits. Effectively the ‘LKK Project’ has now reverted to three separate studies and the level of information going in is closer to pre-feasibility level than scoping.When can we expect results of the heap leach testing and what CAPEX/OPEX costs might result from this processing method?

We expect to have some early indications on the suitability of the Kurnalpi rock in March. The need to collect further samples to get properly representative material has slowed the testwork. What we expect is to have is a modest size leach pad in the order of a couple of million tonnes, which will be funded from the processing of the higher grade portion through a nearby mill. Done well heap leach provides a lost op cost/ low capex option for gold production – only downsides are slower to production and lower overall recovery.Carrick Gold has seen a very limited number of shares issued over the past couple of years with the last significant raising of capital completed in January 2010. There is the potential to fund future development naturally through profits or raising additional capital through further placements.

Is the intention of the company to grow naturally

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Mining News | m I n I n G & m I n E R A L S

through profits or use a more aggressive approach with additional shares to be issued to fund faster development and growth?

Carrick is peculiar in that it was founded without the support of any broking houses. That limits our market exposure. We have a number of committed shareholders that came in at significantly higher share price than we have now – we owe it to them not to dilute, so our strategy is demonstrate the company’s potential by delivering profits.The next 12 months look like an exciting time for Carrick Gold as the company moves from explorer to producer. What developments can investors look forward to over the next 6 to 12 months?

Obviously the key development will be the conclusion of a commercial arrangement which leads to the development of a first mining operation. We have pits designed at Kurnalpi and Lindsay’s and will expect to add two additional mines later in the year at Lignum Dam and Kalpini. Our ground holding has

increased appreciably, and as the regional exploration efforts gear up we expect to have news on additional prospects to work on.What do you see as the company’s largest challenges over the next 12 months?

To a degree the work above is already in motion. The challenge is to keep delivering and show the potential to not just current investors, but to new investors looking for a fresh development/growth story in the gold sector. The stock is tightly held and more speculative investors can be scared of our low liquidity, but that works in reverse when people are wanting to buy, and sellers can command their price.

The story here is a compelling one and while the company is not without its risks if they can meet their intended goals over the next 12 months there is the potential for Carrick Gold to turn from an explorer into a profitable producer.

Bullion Baronwww.bullionbaron.com

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m I n I n G & m I n E R A L S | Mining News

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GC_DCLA_AHAINVESTOR_JANT2012_R1.indd 1 19/01/12 6:53 PM

Page 61: AHA Investor April / May 2012

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Gold to crack $US2000 price on Asian demand THE gold price could exceed $US2000 a troy ounce this year amid continued robust demand in fast-growing economies like India and China, AngloGold Ashanti chief executive Mark Cutifani said March 26th.

Mr Cutifani expected the gold price, which settled at $US1685.60 an ounce overnight, to average between $US1700 and $US1800 in 2012.

“We could see it peak at well over $US2000 in my view, but it is going to move around a fair bit, I think, as news-flow from Europe, the US and other countries continues,” he said.

Prices remain supported by strong buying in China, Mr Cutifani said. “With the increasing middle class in China, many Chinese are choosing gold as a way to store wealth, so I don’t think that will change,” he said.

Demand for gold jewellery in India remained “relatively strong”, though it had weakened slightly recently due to talk of higher taxes on gold imports, he said.

The South Africa-based miner planned to spend around $US800m in Australia over the next two to three years on new projects and exploration, he said.

The Tropicana mine development in Western Australia was on track to meet its forecast start-up date of the fourth quarter of 2013, he added.

Cutifani said last week’s military coup in West African nation Mali, which accounts for around 4 per cent of the company’s gold production, hasn’t affected

operations there, which are still running as normal.

“We’ve had no disruptions,” he said. “We are receiving fuel and other materials, so operations should continue - we don’t expect that to change and, as I understand it, other mining companies are in the same position.

Mining News | m I n I n G & I n v E S T m E n T

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m I n I n G & m I n E R A L S | Mining News

Centerra slashes output forecast at Kyrgyz gold mineBISHKEK, March 27 (Reuters) - Canadian miner Centerra Gold on Tuesday slashed its forecast for 2012 production at its flagship mine in Kyrgyzstan by about a third due to ice movement in the pit, a decline sure to weigh on the fragile economy of the Central Asian state.

Toronto-based Centerra Gold said any repeat of the 10-day strike that disrupted production at the Kumtor mine last month also could jeopardise its ability to meet a revised output target of 390,000 to 410,000 ounces this year.

Centerra had earlier forecast 2012 production at Kumtor of 575,000 to 625,000 ounces of gold, versus the 583,156 ounces achieved last year. The mine accounted for more than 90 percent of the company’s total gold production last year.

The economy in Kyrgyzstan, a mountainous former Soviet republic where gross domestic product per capita is less than a tenth of that in neighbouring Kazakhstan, relies heavily on gold production from Kumtor and remittances from migrant workers.

Kumtor, one of the highest-altitude gold mines in the world at nearly 4,000 metres above sea level, contributed nearly 12 percent of the country’s GDP and more than half of its export revenues last year.

“This will mean a major decline in industrial production, GDP and tax revenues,” said Orozbek Duisheyev, president of the Kyrgyz Association of Miners and Geologists. “We’re talking enormous losses, in the region of $200 million to $250 million.”

Centerra Gold, in which the Kyrgyz state owns a 33 percent stake, said increased ice movement in the southeast section of the pit - exacerbated by the labour stoppage - would delay access to a separate zone where gold grades are higher.

As a result, production from the high-grade SB zone that had been expected this year would be deferred until 2013-2015, the company said in a statement. This would be partly offset by an acceleration of mining in the southwest section of the pit.

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Mining News | m I n I n G & m I n E R A L S

Gold in the Yukon

Canadian-based Source Gold Corporation is reporting as being in the final stages of acquiring a new mineral property in northern British Columbia, at the Yukon Territories border.

Source Gold anticipates closing on the property early April. The claims have a geology that has been compared to the prolific Carlin trend in Nevada. The property was explored in the 1980’s when the crew focused on looking for Zinc, Lead and Silver deposits. The work was not completed, but reports acquired by the Company note that further study is merited. Although gold was not the target of the earlier inquiry, there have been many gold strikes of varying degrees in the general vicinity in part due to the Carlin type geology of the area. The Carlin Trend in northern Nevada has produced more gold than any other mining district in the United States - estimated at over 50,000,000 troy ounces.

“We’re primarily interested in the property because it fits in with our philosophy of acquiring mineral rights to properties in areas of geological promise and those that have been past producers. This one definitely shows geological promise - there are several discoveries in the area, and as a consequence the area is being staked quite heavily,” stated Lauren Notar, CEO of Source Gold.

Northern BC and the Yukon have long been a source of exploration potential. The world’s largest gold producer Barrick gold has Eskay Creek in the Northern BC region which produced over 320,000 ounces of gold; Placer Dome has McDame Creek - where the largest gold nugget in British Columbia’s history was found, an astounding 72 ounces; and Copper Creek Gold’s Bonsai claims also reside in Northern BC.

Source Gold intends to release more details on the location and the terms of the acquisition once the acquisition is closed.

Gold miner Silver Lake on Monday said it had agreed to buy Phillips River’s Kundip gold and copper exploration project and the Trilogy gold, silver, lead and zinc deposit, both in Western Australia, for about $20 million worth of Silver Lake shares.

The deal included the decommissioned RAV 8 nickel mine in WA, Phillips River said in a statement.

Phillips River shares soared six cents, or 41.38 per cent, to 20.5 cents while Silver Lake put on 16 cents, or five per cent, to $3.36 on Monday.

Silver Lake early this month backed out of a deal to take over Phillips River in a $20 million scrip-based transaction because it was unlikely that a lead and zinc offtake deal for Trilogy would be honoured in time.

Silver Lake agreed, when it terminated the takeover, to buy Phillips Rivers’ Munglinup gold exploration project in WA for $325,000.

Silver Lake on Monday said it had amended a convertible note facility to allow it to take a stake in Phillips River of up to 19.9 per cent.

If approved by shareholders, the share subscription would provide Phillips River with $1.8 million in cash to meet funding and liquidity requirements, Silver Lake said in a statement.

Silver Lake Acquires Kundip

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Labour Dispute

Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev, sworn in last December in the first peaceful handover of the presidency since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, has pledged to stamp out corruption to foster investment, particularly in mining.

Centerra said that its “collective bargaining agreement” with employees at the mine was due to expire at the end of 2012.

“A work stoppage at any time during the year could have a significant impact on Kumtor achieving its revised forecast production,” the company said.

Unionised employees at the mine went on strike last month over salary deductions for payments to Kyrgyzstan’s social fund. The company said on Feb. 16 it expected the settlement to cost about $4 million this year.

Last month’s dispute followed a brief disruption in December, when protesters interrupted fuel and other supplies to the mine by blocking a road. That dispute was quickly resolved by a deal for more community involvement.

Centerra also produces gold at the Boroo mine in Mongolia. The company last month reported a 36 percent increase in the size of its measured and indicated gold resources, driven by exploration at Kumtor and other projects in Russia and Mongolia.

m I n I n G & m I n E R A L S | Mining News

African Barrick Gold sees deal options in 2012

(Reuters) – Barrick Gold’s African business unit ABG (African Barrick Gold) has signalled an intent to expand its’ asset base beyond the current Tanzanian interests, as asset prices ease and potential sellers begin to consider their options in the face of a still-uncertain economic outlook, the mining company said on March 27th .

While 2011 prices were viewed as too high for the miner to close what it calls the “valuation gap”, Chief Executive Greg Hawkins said the miner had looked at some 25 projects across Africa and signed ‘at least’ 10 confidentiality agreements in the last 18 months - and was finally seeing the prospects for a deal improve.

“When we were looking a year ago, we thought the valuations were too steep... Now most of (the assets) we looked at a year ago are about half the price from where they were,” Hawkins said, speaking at the Reuters Mining and Metals Summit at Reuters’ office in London.

“That’s brought a lot more things that we like much more into range... I think that landscape has improved dramatically in the last year with the pricing change.”

Gold is widely expected to be a focus for merger and acquisition activity in 2012, as corporate cash piles run high and gold producers’ valuations are close to historic lows.

Hawkins said the group was looking at assets from exploration through to the production stage across west and northeast Africa, including potential future producers in the Nubian Shield, a region stretching through Eritrea and Sudan.

Another difference from 2011, he added, was asset owners were also

becoming more amenable to a sale, as share prices come off last year’s levels and financing conditions remain tough.

“Probably a year ago we were knocking on doors, people’s share prices were quite high, they were pretty relaxed. A year down the track, maybe they’re running out of cash, the share price has halved,” he said.

“We’ve seen in the last three months a lot more inward traffic to us, people talking to us about whether we’re interested in taking a stake or a joint venture.”

African Barrick had a tough 2011, hit by power outages that held back production at its key Buzwagi mine in Tanzania and the miner has set its target for the year at a modest 675,000 to 725,000 ounces. That means it is unlikely to hit a target set at the time of its IPO of 1 million ounces by 2014, without deals.

But many investors say ABG has to balance resolving its current production issues, power, or community and security concerns at its North Mara mine, for example, with the need to add ounces and diversify its geographical risk.

Hawkins said parent Barrick, however, was supportive of the miner’s aim to grow through deals.

“Everybody’s cautious, realizing the scrutiny you’re going to put yourself under when you go and do that,” Hawkins said.

“There is always that question of whether you should get your own house in order... The reality is in Africa you are always going to have issues that come up. They are happy enough that we are getting through them and they do see the long-term strategic rationale in doing something.”

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Mining News | m I n I n G & m I n E R A L S

GOLD IS MONEY

There will never be a more critical time to buy gold and silver. When financial markets are uncertain, smart investors put their money into gold and silver. Why? Because even in the worst of economic times, gold and silver are the ultimate store of value. Buying gold and silver is the best way to preserve your wealth and protect your savings. If you are looking to invest in gold, contact The GoldCompany. The GoldCompany provides customers with a secure and confidential means to buy investment gold and silver (LBMA Good Delivery bars) or to sell scrap, unwanted gold, platinum, silver and diamonds. You can also combine the two with our unique GoldSwap service. The GoldCompany, specialists in all your precious metals and diamond trading requirements.

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The GoldCompany HeadquartersSuite 1, Level 1 Piccadilly Tower133 Castlereagh StreetSydney NSW 2000

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Chalco to buy Ivanhoe’s SouthGobi stake in $926 million deal

(Reuters) - Chinese aluminum giant Chalco stepped up its diversification on Monday, agreeing to pay $926 million for a controlling stake in Mongolian coal miner SouthGobi Resources in a deal with mining billionaire Robert Friedland’s Ivanhoe Resources.

The deal marks the first foray into coal by state-run Aluminium Corp of China Ltd, known as Chalco. Facing a bleak outlook in aluminium, the deal and will give it access to a large coal producer in neighboring Mongolia.

Ivanhoe said a sell-down would free up capital that could be invested in the $6 billion Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia, one of the world’s largest copper and

gold projects.Analysts said the deal had the

potential to boost Chalco’s earnings, but cautioned that the Chinese aluminium producer was moving into a new industry in a different country.

“This is a very surprising acquisition, and should be positive to Chalco’s share prices as earnings growth in the company’s aluminium business is limited and diversifying into coal is a good move,” Robin Tsui, an analyst at BOCI Research said.

Helen Lau, senior analyst at UOB Kay Hian Research, said in a note that it was questionable if Chalco could manage coal mining on its own in a foreign country amid political and regulatory uncertainty.

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A H A B U y E R S G U I d E | Art

Lin Onus (1948-1996)Yorta Yorta language groupBarmah Forest c1993Synthetic polymer paint on canvas182.0 x 182.0 cm

Sold 22 March 2012, Sydney, $260,727 (including Buyers premium)

Taking the Fifth

I enjoy my work. Who wouldn’t? Gold is valuable, numismatics have history, mining seems to be universally profitable; but art – art can be beautiful.

That’s why I like Al Bailey’s rules on art investment – his ‘fifth rule’ resonates in particular for me: “Remember Artists don’t create investments

. . . they create art.” With this in mind (and rule 6: Auction Activity) I have the distinct pleasure to bring you a very different buyers guide. Menzies Art

Auctions have kindly shared some detail of their most recent auction results; and Art Equity showcase some of their best examples as well.

Art for Art’s sake? Remember rule 5 . . . and enjoy.

Page 67: AHA Investor April / May 2012

Apr/May 2012 AHA.Investor | 65

Art | A H A B U y E R S G U I d E

Sidney Nolan (1917- 1992)Ned Kelly and Mounted Trooper 1964

Oil on board152.5 x 122.0 cm

Sold 22 March 2012, Sydney, $542,727 (including Buyers premium)

Margaret Olley (1923-2011)The Yellow Room c1990Oil on composition board61.0 x 76.0 cm

Sold 22 March 2012, Sydney, $78,545 (including Buyers premium)

Ben QuiltyFrog Torana 2003Oil on canvas85.0 x 80.0 cm

Sold 8 December, 2011 Sydney, $81,000 (including Buyers premium)

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A H A B U y E R S G U I d E | Art

Anthony Lister3-Palm Hearth Technique Oil on Canvas 188cm x 197cm

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Art | A H A B U y E R S G U I d E

Tony Tuckson (1921-1973)Untitled c1964Acrylic on masonite122.0 x 122.0 cm

Sold 22 March 2012, Sydney, $55,227 (including Buyers premium)

Jeremy KibelPicassoOil and Spray on Canvas on Board152cm x 152cm

(courtesy of the artist and Art Equity)

Blek le RatMan who Walks through Walls Screenprint, published by Barbarian Press, edition of 50100cm x 74cm

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d I R E c T o R y | Contacts

ABC Bullion Australian Bullion Company (NSW Pty Ltd) Suite 30 Level 6, 88 Pitt Street Sydney NSW 2000Call (02) 9231 4511 www.abcbullion.com.au

Ainslie Bullion Company289 Queen St, Brisbane, QLD 4000iaCall 1800 819 474 / +61 7 3221 0500www.ainsliebullion.com.au

Aliom Financial MarketsLevel 4, 131 York StSydney 2000Call 02 8246 8500

Argyle Pink diamonds2 Kings Park RoadWest Perth, WA, 6005Call +61 8 9482 1052

Art Equity16-20 Barrack StreetSydney 2000Call (02) 9262 6660www.artequity.com.au

Autore PearlsSydney Head OfficeLevel 5, 125 York Street, Sydney NSW 2000 AUSTRALIAT: +61 2 9285 2222 F: +61 2 9285 2255www.pearlautore.com.au

Australian Gual MetalsSuite 5, level 2, 88 Pitt St. Sydney 2000Ph 02 9216 6000www.australiangualmetals.com.au

The Blender Gallery16 Elizabeth StreetPaddington 2021Call (02) 9380 7080www.blender.com.au

Brisbane Vintage WatchesShop 23 Ground Level Brisbane Arcade160 Queen StreetBrisbane Qld 4000Call +61 7 3210 6722 www.brisbanevintagewatches.com

BullionListCall +61 415 875 008Or email [email protected]

BullionMoneySuite 102, 25 George Street. Parramatta, NSW 2150, AustraliaPh 02 8677 4289www.bullionmoney.com.au

Calleija JewellersBrisbaneShop 102 Seaworld DriveMain Beach QLDCall +617 5528366

SydneyThe Westin SydneyNumber 1 Martin Place SydneyCall +612 9233 6661

LondonShop 14 The Royal Arcade28 Old Bond StreetMayfair LondonCall +44(0)20 7499 8490www.calleija.com.au

CoinworksPO Box 1060HawksburnVictoria Australia 3142Ph +61 3 9642 3133www.coinworks.com.au

Fat ProphetsLevel 322 Market Street Sydney NSW 2000 Call 1 300 88 11 77 www.fatprophets.com.au

Contact Directory

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Contacts | d I R E c T o R y

Generation OneGenerationOne is a movement for all Australians - Indigenous and non-Indigenous. It is a non-partisan movement and will listen to any and all contributions that can help break the poverty traps, in our generation.Ph 02 9310 2600www.generationone.org.au

Gold Bullion AustraliaBrisbane Office(Secure office - contact for appointment)Level 23 127 Creek StreetBrisbane Qld 4000Call 1300 754 602

Melbourne Office(Secure office - contact for appointment)HWT TowerLevel 23, 40 City RoadSouthgate, Vic 3006Call 1300 754 602

Sydney Office(Secure office - contact for appointment)Level 32, 1 Market StreetSydney NSW 2000Call 1300 754 602

Head OfficeShop 2 / 2713 Main PlaceBroadbeachGold Coast QLD 4218Call 1300 754 602www.goldbullionaustralia.com.au

Gold Company, TheSuite 1, Level 1, Piccadilly Tower, 133 Castlereagh Street Sydney NSW 2000Call 02 9020 5150 / National: 1300 506 707www.goldcompany.com.au

Gold de RoyaleSuite 103 192 Ann Street Brisbane, Queensland 4000Call 07 38305319www.goldderoyale.com.au

J Farren Price JewellersShop 2, St James Centre80 Castlereagh Street Sydney NSW 2000 Call (02) 9231 3299 www.jfarrenprice.com.au

L.G.Humphries & Sons. 149 Castlereagh St, Sydney AustraliaPh (02) 9267 7691www.lgh.net.au

Guardian Vaults100 William Street Melbourne, VICPh 03 9606 0588 (Opening In Sydney Mid 2012 )www.guardianvaults.com.au

Menzies Art BrandsMelbourne1 Darling Street South Yarra, Melbourne, VIC, AUSTRALIACall +61 3 9832 8700

Sydney 12 Todman Avenue, Kensington, Sydney, NSW, AUSTRALIA Call +61 2 8344 5404www.menziesartbrands.com

Mont Blanc Boutiques Sydney75, Castlereagh StreetSydney, NSW 2000Ph: +61 2 9233 3927

115-117, King StreetSydney NSW 2000Ph: +61 2 9231 5671

Melbourne175-177, Collins Street,Melbourne, Vic, 3000.Ph: +61 3 9663 5077

BrisbaneShop 12, Queens Plaza,Edward St, Brisbane, Queensland 4000Ph: +61 7 3012 9150www.montblanc.com

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Noble NumismaticsSydneyGround Floor169 Macquarie StreetSydney NSW 2000Call +61 2 9223 4578

MelbourneLevel 7350 Collins StreetMelbourne VIC 3000Call +61 3 9600 0244www.noble.com.au

Perth Mint310 Hay Street East Perth WA 6004Bullion Bars & Coins Sales InquiriesCall 1300 201 112 / +61 8 9421 7428www.perthmint.com.au

Port Phillip Publishing Level 1, 10 Fitzroy Street,St. Kilda, VIC 3182,Australia Call 1300 78 29 11 www.portphillippublishing.com.au

Raphael JewellersShop 118, Gallery Level 2The Strand Arcade412 – 414 George Street Sydney 2000Ph: 02 9233 4843

SilverStackerswww.SilverStackers.com.au

SPOTMEXUnit 11, Level 3K1 Building16 Innovation ParkwayBirtinya QLD 4575Ph : 07 3375 7578

State Street Global Advisors Australia, LimitedLevel 17 420 George Street Sydney NSW 2000 Tel: +61 2 9240 7600

Southern Cross Bullionwww.southerncrossbullion.com.au

SymposiumLevel 9, 66 King StreetSydney, NSW 2000Call +61 2 9299 4350 www.symposium.net.au

utopia2 Danks StreetWaterloo 2017Call (02) 9699 2900www.utopiaartsydney.com.au

Varoujan Jewellers70 Castlereagh StreetSydney 2000Ph: 02 9232 2328

Victoria & Albert AntiquesShop 17, The Strand Arcade 412 - 414 George St, Sydney NSW 2000Call (02) 9221 7198

Watch TraderLevel 8, 350 Collins Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000Call 1800 60 20 71www.watchtrader.com.au

d I R E c T o R y | Contacts

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Apr/May 2012 AHA.Investor | 71 Feb/Mar 2012 AHA.Investor | 71 2011

/201

2 C

alen

dar

September

Resources Roadshow Sydney Tuesday 20th 5.30pm – 8.30pm Establishment

Resources Roadshow Melbourne Wednesday 21st 12.30pm – 2.30pm CQ Functions

October

Resources Roadshow Melbourne Monday 17th 12.30pm – 2.30pm CQ Functions

Resources Roadshow Sydney Tuesday 18th 5.30pm – 8.30pm Establishment

November

The Gold Symposium Sydney Mon 14th – Tues 15th 9.00am – 5.00pm Luna Park

Resources Roadshow Sydney Tuesday 22nd 5.30pm – 8.30pm Establishment

Resources Roadshow Melbourne Wednesday 23rd 12.30pm – 2.30pm CQ Functions

www.symposium.net.au • [email protected] • +61 2 9299 4350

2011

2012February

Resources Roadshow Sydney Tuesday 14th 5.30pm – 8.30pm Establishment

Resources Roadshow Melbourne Wednesday 15th 12.30pm– 2.30pm CQ Functions

March

Resources Roadshow Sydney Tuesday 27th 5.30pm – 8.30pm Establishment

Resources Roadshow Melbourne Wednesday 28th 12.30pm – 2.30pm CQ Functions

April

Resources Roadshow Melbourne Monday 23rd 12.30pm – 2.30pm CQ Functions

Resources Roadshow Sydney Tuesday 24th 5.30pm – 8.30pm Establishment

May

The Great Australian Outback Golf Challenge Broken Hill Sunday 20th 10.00am – 7.00pm Golf and Country Club

Resources and Energy Symposium Broken Hill Mon 21st – Wed 23rd 9.00am – 5.00pm Entertainment Centre

June

Resources Roadshow Sydney Tuesday 19th 5.30pm – 8.30pm Establishment

Resources Roadshow Melbourne Wednesday 20th 12.30pm– 2.30pm CQ Functions

July

Resources Roadshow Sydney Tuesday 24th 5.30pm – 8.30pm Establishment

Resources Roadshow Melbourne Wednesday 25th 12.30pm – 2.30pm CQ Functions

August

Resources Roadshow Sydney Tuesday 21st 5.30pm – 8.30pm Establishment

Resources Roadshow Melbourne Wednesday 22nd 12.30pm – 2.30pm CQ Functions

September

Resources Roadshow Sydney Tuesday 18th 5.30pm – 8.30pm Establishment

Resources Roadshow Melbourne Wednesday 19th 12.30pm– 2.30pm CQ Functions

MinExpo USA Mon 24th – Wed 26th 9.00am – 5.00pm Las Vegas Convention Centre

October

Resources Roadshow Sydney Tuesday 23rd 5.30pm – 8.30pm Establishment

Resources Roadshow Melbourne Wednesday 24th 12.30pm– 2.30pm CQ Functions

November

The Gold Symposium Sydney Mon 12th – Tues 13th 9.00am – 5.00pm Luna Park

Resources Roadshow Sydney Tuesday 27th 5.30pm – 8.30pm Establishment

Resources Roadshow Melbourne Wednesday 28th 12.30pm– 2.30pm CQ Functions

2011/2012 Events Calendar

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f I n A L w o R d

In our final word in the last issue, we looked at the Asian financial crisis of the late 80’s and the response; and compared it the current climate & response. Following on from that, Simon Black looks again to Asia – and to the future.

Four obvious signs of Asia’s rise over the Westby Simon Black in Hong Kong

Six centuries ago, when London and Paris were irrelevant, plague-infested backwaters, and New York City wasn’t even

on the map, the greatest city in the world was Nanjing– the capital of the Great Ming.

At the time, Nanjing was not only the most populous city on the planet, it was also the pinnacle of civilization. Art, science, technology, and commerce flourished in the Ming Dynasty’s liberalized economy, which constituted a full 31% of global GDP at the time.

(By comparison, the US economy is roughly 25% of global GDP today…)

Taxes were low, the currency was strong, and overseas trade thrived. For a time, Nanjing truly was the center of the world.

Over the next several hundred years, the tide shifted. The Ming Dynasty fell, and power was transferred further west to the Ottoman Empire, and eventually to Europe which had finally emerged from the Dark Ages as the most advanced civilization on Earth.

Pointless crusades and inquisitions gave way to a surge in medical, technological, and scientific breakthroughs. By the late 17th century, western civilization had asserted its primacy in the global pecking order.

This phenomenon has lasted for several hundred years now… but as history has shown repeatedly, power centers frequently shift. The world is now witnessing yet another transition of power, this time from west to east, as the US-led western hierarchy suffocates within its own debt-laden Keynesian fiat bubble.

Most westerners refuse to believe it. They can’t envision an era in which

the west doesn’t lead the world… in everything. And yet, that time is already upon us. Perhaps nowhere is this more pronounced than in finance:

1) Hong Kong, from whence I write this missive, has been home to the most public offerings in the world ever since overtaking New York in 2009. In 2010, more than $57 billion was raised in Hong Kong IPOs, roughly twice as much as New York.

From Italian luxury house Prada to the luggage maker Samsonite to Swiss metals house Glencore to the US handbag maker Coach, big names have been attracted to Hong Kong. Rovio, the creator of the popular Angry Birds game, is expected to list in Hong Kong as well.

Whereas it was once the obvious choice to list in the US (or London), Hong Kong has now become the best option for most businesses seeking public capital.

2) According to the Financial Times’ Banker intelligence unit, Singapore leads every other major financial center in the world in financial sector foreign investment.

The top three, in fact, are Singapore, Dubai, and Hong Kong. Singapore receives more financial sector foreign investment than New York, London, Frankfurt, and Switzerland combined.

Money goes where it is treated best… and the market is telling us that Singapore is the right destination.

3) According to a new study from the Inter-American Dialogue, China is now dominating emerging market development finance, especially in Latin America.

In the past, countries like Brazil, Ecuador, and Venezuela went to the World Bank and IMF when they needed money. But now these vestigial organizations of the old western hierarchy are becoming a sideshow to Chinese financial muscle.

The study shows that, since 2005, Chinese banks have loaned more money and made more loan commitments to Latin America than the World Bank and International Development Bank combined… and they’re doing it at higher interest rates.

Why? Because developing nations have figured out that when you take the World Bank’s money, you have to put up with them telling you how to run your government. Chinese bank loans don’t come with political strings attached.

It’s extraordinary that this is happening in the US’s backyard.

4) The most obvious sign of Asia’s rise is the perhaps now forgone conclusion of China’s currency becoming a new global reserve option to compete with the dollar and euro.

Every month it seems, there is a new move to loosen China’s once-strict currency controls and open up– new central bank currency swaps, renminbi (RMB)-denominated futures contracts in Chinese exchanges, the introduction of RMB accounts at non-Chinese banks, non-Chinese companies issuing bonds in RMB, etc.

In fact, if you want to mark your calendar on the day the West concedes to Asia, it will be when the US government begins issuing Treasury securities denominated in renminbi.

None of this means that North America and Europe are falling off the edge of the earth. What it does mean is that the old system is being reset, and the rules being rewritten.

It’s not the first time in history that such a shift has

occurred, and it won’t be the last. This

change is nothing to fear… merely something to accept, embrace,

and prepare for.

Page 75: AHA Investor April / May 2012

Apr/May 2012 AHA.Investor | 73

Don’t let my voice be the only one.To find out what you can do to help, go to

www.generationone.org.au– Madeleine Madden

Page 76: AHA Investor April / May 2012

A tribute to the inventor of the first chronograph.Monopusher chronograph, self-windingmanufacture movement. 30 min. and 60 sec. rotating disccounters fixed on the counter bridge. 72h power reserve. Crafted in the Montblanc Manufacture in Le Locle,Switzerland.

nicolas rieussec timewriter.

SYDNEY 75 CASTLEREAGH STREET - 115 KING STREET | MELBOURNE 175 COLLINS STREET | BRISBANE QUEENS PLAZA

1300 36 4810 | WWW.MONTBLANC.COM