Excerpt from article in The Australian 21st May -----
Alex Passmore, head of metals and mining at Patersons Securities in Perth, says investors with a focus on WA stocks should also be considering Catalpa Resources (which last week received a $350m takeover bid from St Barbara), Integra Mining, Focus Minerals and Regis Resources.
Passmore points to Australian Bureau of Statistics data that show gold exploration has surged from $90 million per quarter in June 2008 to $170m per quarter in December.
Until 2009, he says, the Australian gold sector was weighed down by domestic cost pressures driven by rapid rises in other commodities.
As a result, many were forced to explore offshore, particularly in Africa.
But for the past two years, gold has been catching up to other minerals as the price has soared from $US800 to $US1500 an ounce.
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