As a long term investor and not a short term trader I am interested in the annual returns plus capital gain on my investment. Therefore I am interested in the profitability of the company in Australian dollars, if it operates in Australia.
The current P/E and P/E prospects in the next five years are of vital interest.
That's why I am interested in gold in Australian dollars and the costs of the companies in Australian dollars. Traders would be far more interested in gold in US dollars as that affects share prices far more than gold in Australian dollars.
I look at the value of the gold in the ground and the estimated cost of getting it out and the profits based on the Australian dollar gold price. Right now gold in the ground is grossly undervalued even for highly viable good grade reserves.
I have bought tens of thousands of ounces of gold for peanuts. I have a reasonable expectation that that gold will be valued at the correct market valuation in the not too distant future and am prepared to wait for however long it takes.
The answer is that different investors look at different things.
Eventually companies trade on their P/Es and explorers on potential P/Es
