Well folks, I am finally able to post some of my experiences from Montreal. I had planned on posting while I was there, but my computer gave up the ghost last Wednesday.

The conference was small and there weren't that many people there. That goes to show that gold is not in a bubble. Also, with the small crowds, I was able to spend some quality time with some of the presenters...

Here is a list of my observations from various presenters:

1) Stay away from South Africa and Argentina! Yes, Argentina. Some of you may think that I am making that up, because I have been harping on that point myself, but two presenters, came out and said that. One, Terence Orsltan said he was just in Argentina and people are actually trying to get their money out of the country...

I asked Orsltan how that would affect Barrick's Pascua Lama project and he said,"badly"...

Actually, the other, Leonard Melman said Quebec is the best place to invest, followed by Peru...

2) Expect M&A in the junior space to heat up big time in the next 6 months. The deposits that are of real interest are the ones that have or could have over 3 million ozs and are near an existing mine. The reason being is the large expense in developing the mine and infrastructure...

3) Not only are the majors looking at the juniors but end users are also looking at the juniors. Right now the junior sector is truly beatin up...

4) The Majors are now prepared to take on more risk and are now buying projects much earlier in the development cycle. The majors are flush with cash, for now, but their costs for mining are actually going up faster than the gold price. Also, their costs for capital are not being properly factored in to the cost equation...

5) The takeover targets are the juniors that are growing quickly...

6) Stay away from iron ore and coal projects. A lot of these new projects are now coming on stream...

7) The junior space is about to take off, especially in the gold mining sector as the majors are now having trouble meeting their production targets...

8) Food prices will double in 5 years..

9) Risk... There is the perception of risk and then there is the reality of it. Most investors are looking at it in the wrong way. Understanding the risks involved means truly understanding your investment... (Now that sounds very familiar!)

10) Finally, China, China, China... Everyone must read China's recent 5 year plan to gauge what is really going on...

Kherson