"Following yesterday's dramatic sell-off, the materials sector of the S&P/TSX composite index has lost more than 25% of its value since the start of July.That is by far the biggest correction so far in the six-year bull market for commodities, and it is a sign that the hot money that has driven the boom is disappearing as investors conserve cash and cut their exposure to riskier stocks."

.... sounds like something of a normal summer period with some extra nonsense thrown in from an aberrant market courtesy of the US.

"Even Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, the favoured destination of speculators for much of the year, is down more than 30% since mid-June."

.... again it's the summer doldrums

"Nobody wants to buy mining stocks right now because whatever they buy, it's going down the next day," said Kerry Smith, an analyst at Haywood Securities."

.... I'll bet he just loved putting that bit of info. out there. I also wonder who was helping to drive the prices down.

"The miners are facing a number of problems during the slow summer period: lower prices for many commodities, soaring capital costs, growing political risk, and a liquidity crisis that has made it difficult for anyone to raise money, especially the junior companies."

.... yep, it's the summer , fortunately we don't quite fall into the liquidity boat as NOTsters... at least to my knowledge.

"Yesterday, the biggest downward pressure was in the gold sector, as bullion futures fell US$36.40, or 4.2%, to close at US$828.30 on the New York Mercantile Exchange."

Hmmmm. I wonder how that happened? PPT anyone?

"I think gold sold off because when the speculators decided the dollar was going to go the other way and started to get out, there was no sort of backdrop from the jewellery market because that had already weakened," said Victor Flores, an analyst at HSBC Securities in New York."

.... golds move down is a short one resulting from those that are playing the short term. Gotta love the explanations for why gold is down. Jewellry? Yah ok, but gold at this time is money and a momentary slow down in the US$ plunge will simply be a blip before gold marches back up.

"With the mining stock prices falling off so sharply, experts said many of them look cheaper than they have in years. In fact, many analysts are predicting a new wave of consolidation since the large-cap companies are generating plenty of cash and the juniors can't raise any. For evidence, they point to Aurelian Resources Inc. and Gold Eagle Mines Ltd. which both agreed to be bought in the past few weeks."

Very true. Hopefully our unique position will protect us from the vultures. Hopefully our most excellent team will continue to find amazing resources and bring home the value to our sp.