RE:RE:Guatemala etcHi nomad;
Thanks for pointing out the proper mine name.
May I make a suggestion? If you do so I guarantee that you will change your mind.
Pick 5 or 6 big gold miners
Barrick
Goldcorp
Eldorado
Yamana
Agnico
Kinross
Then do a spreadsheet for the past 5 years.
Shoe the reported AISC for each year for each company,
Then show the profit and loss.
Then show what the gold price would need to be to break even financially.
I promise one thing. I promise that you will be shocked. There will be just 30 reference numbers.
5 years by 6 companies.
You will see that the breakeven point is often $400 and sometimes $800 above the AISC.
I did some data digging myself a few years ago but I did not keep a file on it.
As Trump would say "Believe me" the term AISC was created by big gold miners under the auspices of the modestly named "World Gold Council". The intended purpose was to continue to fool individual investors after the so called cash cost term became farcical and no longer fooled us.
Treat AISC as an outright lie. It may be defendable in court but it is not a real term.
It is meaningless just like saying that the cash cost of gold for a mine is minus $400 after by product credits. You may as well say that the cost of building a mini van is minus $10,000 after by product credits of the cars which are built in the same factory.
There are no bounds for silliness amongst gold miners. We need to be alert to scams and intentional deceit. Such behavior is in the DNA of miners and regulators have failed to reign them in. SAD. As the Donald might tweet.
mat