RE: copisgolds take on HBM earnings ??AUR's earnings were actually better (even proportionally) and indicate being better going forward as AUR is hedgless and very leveraged to the recent increase in copper. It is a good company that I once owned (now twice) having recently sold and put that money into AUR. You may do what you wish, but there is nothing in relation to HBM that can match this statement from AUR's 2005 year-end conference call: For each 5 cents above $2/pound that AUR sells its (remember it gets a premium to spot price because it is LME registered) copper for adds AT LEAST (based only on 1Q from Duck Pond) 8.5 cents/share to 2006 earnings of $1.79/share. At today's spot price, AUR is selling for about $3.90/pound. Should that be the average for 2006, AUR would have earnings of $5.02/share with cashflow near $7/share and NET CASH in the bank over $7/share by year end. Throw in a full year of Duck Pond in 2007 adding somewhere near $2/share to that 2006 total and the expansion in Andacollo which should see a near doubling of production at lower costs by 2009/10 and you see that AUR is a great stock when held to the standard of upside potential v downside risk. Others may (may, I say) outperform AUR in the next 3 years, but I would not sleep as well as I do every night holding those over AUR.