Gold mining stocks come with some advantages, among which is that their value is linked to the price of gold and is more sensitive to it than gold bars. The reason is that stocks are valued based on future and anticipated profits during the life of the mine. This is based on the relationship between the mine’s reserves, the cost of production, and the anticipated value of the extracted gold.
The costs of mining companies are generally high, and they are leveraged against the price of gold. Anything over the cost of production is profit when the price of gold raises. If profits increase, gold mining companies pay high dividends.
At the same time, risks are associated with investing in mining stocks. First, the amount of reserves in a mine cannot be predicted accurately. The reserves of gold mines are evaluated during the core drilling programs of miners, sampling the anticipated gold seam. This serves to measure the concentration of gold in different rock locations. While the reserves discovered are extrapolated over a large area, the overall amount of reserves is an estimate. They cannot give guarantees that they will actually extract this amount, as it may not be there in reality. Human judgment is another factor, with companies mainly aiming at exploration. They may claim that gold reserves are promising as to manipulate the figures and attract investors. Fine judgments may be made by both the financial controller of the company and the geologists.
Other risks occur when you are investing in precious metals shares. These relate to the health of the company’s balance sheet, its level of indebtedness, the competence of its management body, and the dividend policy. Other risks are associated with capital expenditure for future operations, costs for lengthening the life of the mine, size and quality of reserves, etc. Additional risks relate to the metal’s production costs. The political climate in the country or area and potential labor problems are other issues to consider. Other factors to look into are income from past reporting periods and price prospects. The prospects of the economy and the equity markets are yet another factor. Finally, investors should find out whether the miner has hedged its metal production in order to raise capital.
Naturally, it is not only the price of the metal that should be taken into consideration. The above are variables that weigh heavily on the reward – risk ratio, which investors assess before investing in gold mining stocks. At the same time, gold miners are not the only companies carrying corporate risk. The decisions investors make can also affect the markets (for example, fear of coming recession.
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