Hi all, not a holder but am a Kiwi and folllow gold stocks so thought you might be interested in some local flavour: 1. Been hiding from covid down here but its now in and the government has been forced to accept it aint going anywhere. Population is very highly vaxed x 2 and with third well under way. Good time to have it as February and March are the two hottest outdoor months. So expect some disruption in the next couple of months as it does its thing but hopefully as we go into winter that wave might have passed. 2. Inflation in NZ is very high (around 6%). This may have an impact on costs for OGC. This will not be as much wage-based as it is in Australia I suspect. Unions are weaker and its more to do with a lack of internal competition. 3. Exacerbating that my personal view is that when borders open more fully this end there will be a significant exodus to Australia as many folks are fed-up with a) being locked in and b) wages/inflation (see point 2). Which is not to say I am a doom merchant. Arguing against myself, Waihi and Otago are places which tend to have relatively settled populations where folks might be less inclined to look for other opportunities. The general point is though that like WA there are significant shortages across all labour groups. 4. I have long expected the environmental movement to start agitating around WKP. There has been some talk but nothing too dramatic yet. I think the OGC commitment to go underground has helped and to be frank there might be tacit recongition that things are generally a bit wobbly so not the right time to get too excited about anything that helps local employment. They are killer grades there aren't they? 5. I have long anticipated a fall in the $NZ. Our export prices have held up well but inflation does tend to erode currency as I recall and I suspect general weakening of the economy is occurring so this if it happens will be an offset against internal cost pressures given the price of gold is set externally.
Anyway not making any hard judgements about what this means for you. Just thought it might be helpful. I may dip my toe next week but not sure yet.... still a big fan of Jake Klein.
OGC Price at posting:
$2.05 Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
