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The San Francisco Hard Asset Conference
Attending the San Francisco Hard Asset Investment Conference this week, I learned that the people who inhabit this world are different from you and I. They camp in remote, mosquito infested swamps, risking hepatitis or dysentery, or 100 degree below zero temperature in the frozen wastelands of the north.
The mines in which they toil present dangerous and claustrophobic working conditions in unbearably hot deserts and stifling jungles. They do this in the world’s most corrupt countries where they will happily expropriate your holdings and throw you in fetid, stinking jails if the required “consulting fees” go unpaid.
They do all of this so when you shake their hardened, calloused hands with red dirt under their fingernails and you look into their darkly tanned faces they can tell you with the fervence of a religious zealot that the value of their metal, ore, mines, exploration rights, or stock price are about to take off like a rocket.
Perhaps it was appropriate that gold hit a new all time high last month, which explained why so many of the visitors seemed to be floating by on a cushion of air. Everyone seemed to be wearing better tailored, suits, cleaner shirts, and sharper haircuts than last year. These were the hard core faithful who suffered a 20-year bear market in hard assets, and even hung on during the dark days when gold plumbed the depths to $260/ounce in 1999, and were now witnessing the second coming.
The conference was one of the most satisfying I attended this year. I spent half the time, going from table to table, thanking them for delivering the stellar performance I promised would arrive, companies like Avalon Rare Metals. I spent the other half signing programs for enthralled visitors who spotted my conspicuous Mad Hedge Fund Trader nametag.
The gold and silver coin dealers were there in force with their usual patter and free lotteries. There were a number of new Canadian mining companies raising money for an IPO or a secondary on the back of their latest findings in the field. The uranium and yellow cake producers were waxing eloquent about the nuclear power boom in China and the coming renaissance in the US (click here for my piece at http://www.madhedgefundtrader.com/December_21__2009.html ).
The poster child for the conference had to be the rare earths miners whose stocks have clocked meteoric 400% returns in the past six months. What I heard from the other attendees was fascinating. At least 30 others told me they sold all their real estate in 2004-2005 and poured the proceeds into hard assets, which have since doubled, tripled, or quadrupled. I received no end of tips about better than expected assay result from exploratory core drillings in British Columbia, Chile, and Gambia. I steered clear of the booths staffed by hotties who clearly had more firsthand knowledge of silicon, than gold, silver, copper, or uranium.
While the long term fundamental case for gold, silver, and other hard assets is overwhelmingly positive, there is no doubt that it is overheated for the short term, and the recent $90 sell off over the last 10 days has shown. Still it is absolutely something to keep on your radar.
All in all, it gave a great overview on many key commodities and precious metals that are in long term bull markets. There are few sure things in life, but one for me is that I will be attending the next Hard Asset Investment Conference in New York during May 9-10, 2011 (click here for the link at http://www.hardassetsny.com/ ), which is free for all comers.
To see the data, charts, and graphs that support this research piece, as well as more iconoclastic and out-of-consensus analysis, please visit me at www.madhedgefundtrader.com . There, you will find the conventional wisdom mercilessly flailed and tortured daily, and my last two years of research reports available for free. You can also listen to me on Hedge Fund Radio by clicking on “This Week on Hedge Fund Radio” in the upper right corner of my home page.
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Overheated? Something to 'keep in your radar?' Spoken like a true 'hedger'.
Physical, in the hand, under the floorboards, and in the backyard, Madhedgefund bitchez
LOL. Yeah, Strannick, some people seem never to be able to look beyond their short term, shortsighted, five-minute time horizon. And it will always bite them in the end. He who laughs last, laughs best.
By the way, good to see you around!
One image that stuck with me from that conference was a 30ish blond fondling a 100oz silver bar while her hubby (or boyfriend) about 20 yrs older wrote the check. LOL! Diamonds are for chumps!
Stayed away from the silicone "hotties"? Man, are you crazy? I'll bet they were all about 20 years old and you must be a fruit-cake! Cheech and Marin are asking "Wad da ell yu duin dar, playin wid yu-sel?"
I'm getting hard right now.
.daed si luaP
"I spent the other half signing programs for enthralled visitors who spotted my conspicuous Mad Hedge Fund Trader nametag."
Holy shit dude. All I can say is, when the SHTF for you, please don't jump, life's still worth it on the other side of your impending downfall.
I somehow doubt that the good (sic) Jon Nadler was in attendance at this conference --- the only real hard asset that HE owns is his own excessively thick cranium.
That and his that golds 'in a bubble' hard-sell.
That arrogant turd was actually a speaker??!! Unbelievable. I can't for the life of me figure out why Kitco pays that clown.
Nice piece of reporting that paints a vivid picture.
Hard Assets... Bitchez
He failed to mention that the conf was held at the Campus All Male Theatre. Indeed a more enthusiastic group for hard assets could not be found.
And the "hotties who clearly had more firsthand knowledge of silicon" can be explained by their proximity to Silicon Valley. Surely you did not mean silicone?