Sometimes I find it hard to remember the optimism we once had. I was just telling someone that I spoke with Lynne in the office after the distribution of funds and she said she had just put her money back into the stock at $.82. Now that seems like a fantastic sum of money but at the time it looked like a bargain. (I hope that Elmer/Mike wouldn't have let her do that if they didn't think she would profit from it eventually!)

They just had their annual conference on copper mining in Chile and, as usual, some news has come out of it. Last year it was all about the grim state of oversupply and China slowing.

This year they think we've hit bottom. Finally.

Mr Boel, a board member at Aurubis, says. “I struggle to find reasons why prices should go down further.”

Towards the end of the decade, the market will swing back into deficit, with the supply gap quickly widening.

Few people dispute this because the maximum output over the next decade can be reasonably accurately forecast; it takes, on average, 11 years for a copper mine to go from conception to production. “There is a wonderful opportunity for those well placed to fill that [supply] gap,” says Peter Beaven, president of copper at BHP Billiton. “There is a prize to be won.”

--http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/68a7e594-c3b3-11e3-a8e0-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2yyZDhLBG