This debate came to the fore at the Denver Gold show last year...

This debate came to the fore at the Denver Gold show last year and it's great news that Goldcorp has now acted.

Of course one never invests without looking at the financial statements anyway, but reporting of 'all-in' cost is more honest and helps protect the retail investor from unscrupulous managements, highlights to the taxman that most gold companies aren't really that profitable, and focuses shareholders/investors attention on how major capital spending for new projects will be funded when cash flows aren't what they first appear.

This improved transparency can only be good for the industry. CEO's of major gold producers have recently lost their jobs because they couldn't deliver shareholder value. Producers are now well and truly focused on cutting costs and better capital allocation decisions are being made that are delaying projects reducing supply to market.

This hurts share prices in the short-term. In the long-run, however, it can only be good for the gold price as global production outside of China will fall and fall rather appreciably I think.