RE: Hedge Buying out the hedge was questionable, but we're almost entering a time of seasonal strength, so we should be ok. Regardless, if you think about the outlook for next quarter (two quarterly releases from now), it could be well timed; likely record profits and good seasonality. That quarter will be the first one without the hedge on the books and the price of oil is much more favorable. Provided metals prices stay here (roughly), they have no more production glitches, and their largest input costs are down, their profits should be healthy and their costs/ounce should be substantially lower. In addition, there could be drill results from new areas by then. Perhaps they'll be in a better position by then to talk about a dividend in more concrete terms as well.
Even if gold goes down to $1300 or so, I think we're still cheap.