G'day cptkid,I have spent many, many hours researching ASX...

G'day cptkid,

I have spent many, many hours researching ASX listed companies with exposure to the price of silver (POS).

There is only very few with a primary focus on silver. These are AVL, MMN, MAR and potentially the soon to be listed TasGold. I think there may be one or two more, but I can't remember them off the top of my head.

Larger companies such as BHP and MIM do produce silver as a bi-product from other mining operations.

In the end, I decided to buy some physical silver and also some call options on the COMEX.

In the case of an increased POS, the physical silver will not rise by as much in Australian dollar terms if the AUD keeps climbing against the USD.

The same goes for my options. But as you would know, options are highly leveraged instruments, and any profit or loss one makes would be amplified - with the exchange rate having a generally lesser percentage effect.

I increased my exposure to silver on the COMEX during Friday night. I bought three December 2003, US$5.50 call option contracts, for a consideration of about US$ .20 each, representing a total of 15,000 ounces of silver.

In Australian dollar terms, it cost me about $5000.

If you are interested in trading on the COMEX division of the NYMEX, ask your broker for details.

My futures broker is Tricom.

Hope this helps.


Regards,