Hi Moneyvacuum,Not being an expert, but having held Saracen...

Hi Moneyvacuum,
Not being an expert, but having held Saracen shares I was a bit worried with the takeover by NST. Saracen was starting to produce extremley good margins at their two mines and then the Big pit. However, Pogo has not lived up to it's promise of adding to NST. It has cost big US bucks to develop and the ASIC costs were very high compared to all other mines, even up to the most recent quarter. In addition, it is the US gold price that seems to have the best correlation with shares. However, they tend to overdo the rise and underdo the drops in the US gold price. Others say, gold follows a cycle with rising into the Indian wedding season and China after this, in the latter part of the year. The cost of diesel is a big input for miners. So as the price of diesel rises this decreases profit margins. In any business, it is the profit margin that is a key metric for investors. Diesel from Oil had risen from around $30 Us to around $90 over a year. So, this is a major input as is skilled shortages leading to rising wages to retain skilled employees, add Covid costs as well and ASIC costs are on the rise. Others ahve mentioned manipulation and I defer to their knowledge in this area.I hope this has added some useful information.