having esoteric conversations about how gold is...

having esoteric conversations about how gold is priced/sold/traded is kind of moot.

it is what it is, neither any of us nor nst can change that and we have to play in the pen available.

ive seen enough damage done to farmers trying to get clever and sqeeze a bit more out of high prices only to end up losing. imagine if nst had huge stockpiles of gold in 2011 only to watch the price fall?

your point doesnt gel with your earlier comment about take over targets and upping dividend as protection. Why do you think stockpiling bullion is any different to stockpiling cash in terms of consequence?

miners are there to mine the metal, let them do that. dont turn them into trading houses or hedge funds or, as i have seen some suggest in the past to hold btc. shareholders dont want or need multiple risks that nst has no control over. let them focus on mining, and if you want to speculate on the future price of the commodity play futures.

nst is already adequately exposed to a rising gold price which is why (i presume) we are all here. dont get greedy or tricky with it.