NST may genuinely believe in their hedging strategy, or they may...

NST may genuinely believe in their hedging strategy, or they may also be under huge pressure, from their banks, market forces, government, etc, to increase hedging. Sometimes things are very different, under the surface, than the appearances upon the 'surface of the pond'.

Gold mining is a tough game.

A comment from GATA on the industry.

But GATA understands this negligence of the monetary metals mining industry.

That is, the miners are too scared of their governments and their banks to acknowledge that they are competing with them in the money business.

Government can shut down a mine quickly on many pretexts -- environmental regulations, royalty rights, sovereignty claims, and such. And most mines are so expensive to build and operate that they require financing from the biggest banks, most of which are the partners of government in market rigging.

Either that, or the NST management has not grasped the movement of the financial tectonic plates. They are after all miners, and not political theorists!

Hopefully their education will be a rapidly changing force!