bbq:

I have been in and out of gold. Presently out, but will be back in. The vehicle for gold I have used is GDX on the US exchanges. It is an ETF of the major and some of the lesser gold mining stocks. To date it has treated me very well. Additionally, I have Silver Wheaton which is an interesting silver play. They provide upfront development money for mining companies in gold to develop their mines in return for the silver production of the mine plus $3.90 per ounce of silver. It has been very good to me.

Feel in the present environment, all need some exposure to precious metals as a hedge against both inflation and deflation. Base metals are also reasonable places to be at present as the developing world continues to build out their infrastructure.

Additionally, do your research on so called Rare Earth Metals. These are the Lanthanide group of metals on the Periodic Table of Elements and are essential to the development of many technologies involved with Electric and Hybrid vehicles as well as other high tech applications. Additionally, at present, the largest national source of the Lanthanide group of metals is China. And they recently placed severe restrictions on the export of Rare Earth Metals. There are large deposits of Lanthanide material particularly in Australia an Greenland as well as the US and Canada.

Do your research and due diligence!

Brian