Barrick (ABX) and its de-hedging: An Important Announcement

In light of the dozen or so mails received over the last 48 hours (no joke) asking your author's opinion regarding the move made by Barrick Gold (ABX) to de-hedge its forward gold positions by raising $4Bn or so in a share offering, this humble corner of cyberspace has the following important announcement to make:

Really. Truly. But thanks for the mails, anyway. I liked that bit.

Fortuna Silver (FVI.v): An interesting snippet

Here's a short'n'sweet post with new news about Fortuna Silver (FVI.v).

The Ottoscope™ reports that Fortuna (FVI.v) has hedged around 65% of its zinc (Zn) and lead (Pb) production. The Zn is hedged at around U$1,200/MT (that's U$0.544/lb) and the Pb is around $1,100/MT (that's U$0.499/lb). This means that with the bias toward Zn over Pb at its Caylloma mine, the global average hedge price is a touch under U$0.53/lb. This hedge is for the first six months of 2009 (i.e. it started in January and finishes June '09).

All silver production remains unhedged.

Those who bought the NOBS report will be able to factor in the change to the presumed metals revenues mix. Those who haven't bought the $10 report yet and are interested can find out more here.