South Africa: The mining news lowdown on AngloGold, Gold Fields and Glencore

All that glitters … or not

Over the years, gold has managed to hold its own as a useful inclusion in portfolios that are worried about things like inflation and depreciation of fiat currencies. Many wise souls point out that buying the commodity is superior to buying the mines.

I’ve looked at this before and I’m not sure I agree that buying the commodity beats buying a basket of mines, as well-run mines should achieve operating leverage – earnings growth in excess of revenue…