One of the smartest out there...

I have been investing more in bullion recently than in stocks. I already own some stocks. But I do believe that if bullion performs as I expect it to, the stocks will do well. If you go back to the 1930s, the best performing things on earth were the gold stocks.

TGR: They went down in the beginning.

JE: They did, but these have already gone down. That would make the case that we had the bear market in gold. I guess they could go down 90% from the peak prices, but still the risk/reward heavily favors the reward side. That is not true for large cap stocks, particularly those that make up the indices.

TGR: But if the price of gold doesn't turn around, don't a lot of juniors risk bankruptcy?

JE: If they’re not in production and are fairly careful, they can gear back. The ones in production and losing money are at the greatest risk of bankruptcy. If gold doesn't turn soon, they won't be able to finance their operations. A lot of these guys lose money and just kept going out and raising more. They just keep losing money, so they close the mines. That’s also very bullish for gold. We're going to have less and less gold in production.

TGR: What about the juniors that aren't in production?

JE: I'm not worried about the ones that have real ore bodies and have gotten pounded down to where they’re trading at $10, $15, or $20 an ounce in the ground.

TGR: Because they’ll be taken out?

JE: They’ll be taken out or they’ve hit bottom and, as long as they have enough capital to move forward, they can gear down. Small, quality gold shares are proxies for a higher gold price. The problem is that the gold price is so severely suppressed vis a vis other commodities that the whole business has become uneconomical.

TGR: What percentage should an investor have in bullion and in what form?

JE: If the worst happens and everything goes to hell in a handcart, you want bullion. So the core of your portfolio has to be bullion. Depending on how much money you’ve got, you can decide what percentage you want to wager on the upside.

TGR: So you recommend a core holding of bullion. Do you believe people should have coins?

JE: Absolutely. I’m a big believer in coins and actually have them in addition to physical gold as part of my position.

TGR: Would the balance be in producers and exploration companies?

JE: I can't pound the table for any of the large cap producers because they don't represent terrific relative value. However, when the gold price goes up, they’re going to go up in price. My view is that some of the smaller ones will go up a lot more. It depends on what your goal is. If you only want to protect yourself, own nothing but bullion. But if you want some leverage and to make some money, then you should probably get some intermediate and smaller gold stocks that have been really taken to the wood shed and pounded.

TGR: Could the powers that be continue to drive gold down?

JE: They have a financial crisis of epic proportions and the last thing they want is for gold to become the go-to asset, so they’ve been throwing everything at it but the kitchen sink. That strategy has resulted in unprecedented shortages of physical gold. Half the bullion dealers and coin dealers in America can't get it.

The U.S. Mint suspended production of Gold Eagles. They claimed it was due to a shortage of blanks. I don’t believe that. I think it’s a physical shortage. COMEX has created an irrationally low price and people are coming out of the woodwork buying it.

TGR: And they can’t replace it.

JE: The fact is that all this stuff at central banks has been leased and swapped and sold into the market. It’s gone; it’s not coming back. So we’re running out. The question is when will it be completely gone—that's when the market will go nuts.

TGR: Are you forecasting that for January of 2009?

JE: That's when we’ll have four-digit gold—maybe higher four digits. As this credit crisis unfolds, the gold market can come into its own again. Attempts to discourage people by pounding the gold will end. When everyone realizes what’s going on, I think it’ll have a salutary effect on the gold price.

TGR: John, as usual, we appreciate your time.

JE: It’s always best to talk when things are at their worst because I think that’s when the opportunity is the greatest. When we have another conversation six months from now, I think it’ll be a much happier one.

John Embry is chief investment strategist at Sprott Asset Management.

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