Auto, hard to say. One thing about PRU, though, is we see what...

Auto, hard to say. One thing about PRU, though, is we see what the actual/net/all up (or "all-in") costs per ounce are for the company. I doubt we see that for many of the others.

In this article:

http://tools.afr.com/viewer.aspx?ATL://71f8f12c-6f0b-11e2-ae0e-166e1dcfb954§ion=tools

The new PRU MD, Mr Quartermaine says cash costs have been focussed on in the gold sector, as opposed to "all in/all up" costs, so the market assumes more profit is being made than it is. In the PRU presentation:

http://hotcopper.com.au/announcements.asp?id=530511

Forecast cash production costs (excluding royalties, capital):
? US$755/oz for second half of FY2013
? US$645/oz for Full FY2013

• “All up” Full FY2013 forecast site cash cost of approximately US$1,100/oz including production, capital costs and royalties)
_____________

In other words, even in Africa, where people think wages are cheap, therefore, gold is all done for a song, are wrong. $1100 is not too bad, because with POG at current levels of $1560, PRU is still making a net profit of $460/oz.

The strong will survive here, in this climate of POG (I still don't think $1560/oz is devastating). PRU, if they meet their low target of 208,700/oz this year, will make a profit of $96m this full year. PRU has to be one of the strongest goldies out there. Having said that, another 10% or $70m knocked off the market cap today. This one has integrity of reporting, though, and that accounts for a LOT in this market.