Gold, if you believe it is a haven in times of uncertainty and potential disaster, is a bit of a worry.
Since it rose above the US$1300 level at the start of the month it has been climbing at an increasingly rapid rate, and broke through US$1400 an ounce on Friday last week.
Thanks to the weaker Australian dollar, the news for Aussie gold miners is even better - an ounce now fetches more than AU$2000 (roughly $65 a gram).
Given the shenanigans between the US and Iran, perhaps the gold price jump is not a surprise. If presidents Trump and Rouhani kiss and make up, gold will probably drop back again. Nevertheless the Punter has decided to hedge his bets and diversify his mainly agricultural portfolio somewhat by adding an Aussie junior gold miner.
Laneway Resources (ASX code LNY), which could be bought for a fifth of a cent ($0.002) a share a year ago, has since been as high as 16c. Then it was virtually broke. Now the Punter reckons it is raking in more than $2 million a month after paying for processing.
Its Agate Creek project in Queensland is small, with indicated reserves of only 76,900 ounces, but recent drilling near the existing pit produced high grade results.
The Punter has gambled $2100 on 200,000 LNY.
He hopes it works out better than some of his recent decisions. Choosing a few weeks ago to hang on to Duxton Broadacre Farms (DBF) was not good. It would then have meant selling them at a loss. Now he has dumped them this week at an even greater loss of just under $1000. Ouch.
He should also have sold his shares in the cattle exporter Welland (WLD) a couple of weeks ago before they released their latest, rather alarming, update on their debt situation. Perhaps foolishly, he is still holding his WLD shares, with fingers firmly crossed.
- The Punter has no financial qualifications and no links to the financial services industry. He owns shares in a number of companies featured in this column.
