Sean Russo

The vast majority of gold mining companies globally make a very big thing about being non-hedgers. They have it on their website home page and it often features heavily in all investor communications. Rather like the shop windows that have the “no cash kept on premises”, they are strongly declaring no “financial derivatives inside”.

Over the past four to five years there has been a stark and growing difference between the way in which Australian and North American gold mining companies sell their gold and manage the associated risks of having high and largely fixed costs, and often high debt, against a totally variable, market driven, revenue line.