Gold Miners and Explorers Face Serious Supply Problems

Geologic success can only come about if a company is exploring in the right geologic terrain—a terrain that is capable of hosting a major deposit. This is, of course, easier said than done, and it is critical that the speculator in this sector be able to recognize the difference between a legitimate play and a questionable story.

Unfortunately for the speculator, Mother Nature has been very generous and supportive to the exploration sector. She has scattered gold, copper and silver anomalies all over the world, then hidden what lies beneath them under gravel and jungle. She has then left the elucidation of what lies below the surface to a discipline that is best described as art informed by science: geology. Geology and minerals exploration are not exact sciences. Minerals exploration is not accomplished through the careful mixing of measured quantities at a sterile laboratory or by complex mathematical calculations done on a computer. It is done by geologists working in the frozen wastelands and barren deserts of countries that most of us didn't know existed 10 years ago. They are invariably dealing with a limited data set and projecting that information into the third and most important dimension, depth. Testing that dimension requires drilling, an expensive endeavor that usually provides more questions than answers. (more)