FAQ

Will I be able to find, for example, gold companies in the project construction phase with cheap in-ground resources in low-risk countries? Am I able to easily search your hundreds of companies with such detailed criteria?

Yes.

This is just the kind of question GoldNerds is designed to answer. We classify companies into Producer, Developer, or Explorer. We have detailed information about the cost per ounce (EV and market capitalization per reserve, resource, or mineable ounce). Each country is rated for political safety, using data from the Economic Freedom Index and mining surveys.

Click the “Filter On/Off” button to turn on the filters. On the “Status” column, check the filter menu item "D" (for developer). On the “Sovereign Risk” column, click only the check boxes for the lowest risks. Then sort by any of the cost-per-ounce columns, by clicking the "Sort" button at the top of the column. Browse the company comments to find out how far down the development track companies are, the main details of their most recent study, and when they expect to be in production.

Everything in the Standard version is in the Professional version, and everything in the Professional version is in the Elite version.

See this table.

The GoldNerds spreadsheet is a Microsoft Excel file. You must have Microsoft Excel (2010 or later) running on Windows to be able to use it. GoldNerds uses macros to turn the spreadsheet into a mini-program, so it is much easier to use than raw Excel. GoldNerds users barely need to know how to use Excel, because all of the expected operations are done by clicking buttons we have placed on the spreadsheet. It is not a spreadsheet of raw data.

We like Macs, but unfortunately Microsoft Excel for Mac does not support all of the macro commands. GoldNerds does not work on Excel for Mac, because it uses macros extensively — it is not a simple spreadsheet of data.

The GoldNerds spreadsheet does not even open on Excel for Mac, so it is totally useless on a standard Mac. All we can suggest is using a friend’s PC or a work PC. You could run the spreadsheet on your Mac using Bootcamp or a Windows emulator such as Parallels, but you will need also a copy of Windows and of Excel. It is sometimes cheaper and easier to use an old Windows computer with an old copy of Excel (2010 and on).

We are working on a new software solution that will run on Macs, but it may take a while.

Minimum screen size is 1024 x 768 pixels. This is a huge spreadsheet, and we've compressed the screens as far as we can.

We include everything on silver we can find, and treat it as gold equivalent (at the current price ratio). But there are not a lot of silver-focused companies on the ASX. However, there are several companies that have significant silver resources or production. We have a column "% in Silver" that estimates the focus or value the company has in silver.

Yes. We divide them into precious (gold, silver, platinum, palladium, rhodium, and indium) and non-precious (the rest), and treat them as equivalent to gold (at the current price ratio).

We get occasional inquiries about other metals (recently, lithium!), but there doesn't seem to be sufficient demand. We have a well advanced piece of software (working, partly polished) to deliver all the information in GoldNerds and more, across all metals and stock exchanges and in all currencies, but we are waiting for either perceived demand to rise or a financial partner in the project. :)

We don't have a trial subscription, unless you call the minimum subscription of 6 months a "trial." We are often told our prices are too low as it is — by the standards of the finance industry our spreadsheets are very cheap. We provide hundreds of man-hours of research, and could make or save you thousands of dollars by helping you avoid over-valued companies, sell out of non-performers, or helping you find stocks with more potential.

GoldNerds is perfect for independent thinkers who are already gold investors and have Microsoft Excel. (Experience with Excel is helpful though not necessary, because to operate the GoldNerds spreadsheet you just click buttons we've put on it.)

If you don't know anything about resources shares or the gold market, study the "Introduction" and "Notes" sheets and the extensive Help entries at the top of each column in the "Gold Stocks" sheet. There you'll find details of how to analyze and value gold companies, why they are different from industrial companies, and warning signs of stocks that are higher risk.

This is not a newsletter with a list of recommended stocks. Instead we've done what no one else has done (including brokers, funds and advisors) — we've collected information from across the entire sector, and figured out how to slice and dice it so you can make up your own mind and find the companies that other searches miss. You'd need to be the kind of person who makes up your own mind, and is happy to ask questions and read information.

If you want someone to tell you which Australian shares to buy there are several other sources to try. Beware that brokers and gold specialists rarely cover the entire sector.

For Australian customers who'd rather not pay by credit card, we are happy to give you our account number for direct deposits (email us). We can't accept credit card numbers by phone or email (seriously, the bank won't allow it). If you are outside Australia, email us and we'll find a solution that works for you.

We are happy to upgrade you at any time in your subscription for a pro rata fee for the rest of the subscription period (email us). Many subscribers who initially try the six month Standard subscription later resubscribe for the Professional version. The versions are compared on the home page.

Announcements to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), company websites, the media, and contacts.

The bulk of our information comes from the company's ASX announcements. Companies are strictly required by the ASX not to tell untruths or gild the lily too much when making announcements. For example, the ASX polices the use of the words "resource" and "reserve", which can only be used if they adhere to the JORC (Australian) or 43-101 (North American) codes. Information on a company website is occasionally exaggerated, out of date, or slightly dubious, and what the company tells you over the phone is sometimes a bit hopeful or omits relevant information. So, where possible we get the information from their ASX announcements.

Much of our information is referenced in a comment with something like "12 Feb 2022", which means that the source of the information is the company's ASX announcement on that date — and where you can go for more information.

It is expensive to collect information for all these companies and keep it current. As investors, we find some items interesting, others not so much.

We pick out and record the few things that GoldNerds wants out of ASX announcements. There are an awful lot of details we don't mention. Often a company will issue a 20 page announcement, and we might only record a couple of numbers, or write a sentence or two. Most information in GoldNerds is referenced with the date of the announcement, so if you are interested you can look up the announcement for more detail.

We ignore profit figures, asset valuations, net present values, and write downs. These are based on questionable assumptions about the future price of gold and other factors. As investors we prefer to focus on tangibles like resources and reserves, cash and debt, hedging, and development and mining costs.

We don't do profit projections or NPV calculations. They rely heavily on assumptions. Information about tangibles is sufficient to compare companies.

We occasionally mention personnel, mainly managing directors, because they sometimes have an exceptional reputation or track record. We don't rate management (brokerages sometimes do, but they keep the ratings to themselves for fear of being sued).

We don't note whether shares are escrowed or represented by CDIs. We only really care about what fraction of a company a share owns.