ebear

I'm nowhere near as bearish but as always remain cautious to the vagaries of a market clearly manipulated by large commercial banks and if not government, at least the central bankers on behalf of government agendas(whose agendas are arguably dictated by the central banks) .

There is good cause for concern in North America where the consumption bubble has no choice but to come to an end, howdver the bric countries consumption is on the way up albeit not as likely to rise as fast as the world largest consumers comsumption habits decline.

The biggest strength of the mining sector has been the reduced productivity found in most existing mines and the lack of meaningful investment as commodity prices remained low during the 90's and 00's.

The venture exchange remains down I'm guessing +60% from its peak, however it may be dominated by gold and silver explorers/junior producers. The price increases and potential price increases make the precious metal category still attractive.

In every sector there will be those that out perform and are good investments even during bad times for a specific industry ... holding a balanced portfolio with diversifcation including mines is IMO always a better way to go unless their is the expectation of a overall market correction in which case cash is king until the nuying opportunities exist in all sectors ... of course the hottest sectors will be first to rebound and that may be driven by market sentiment of blistered retail investors or manipluative "professional Investors".

orgy