Reuters 9/24/08
Steve James

Turmoil in the financial markets is driving up the price of gold and likely will spawn a takeover wave among precious metals companies, analysts and industry observers said on Wednesday.

“A significant amount of upcoming mergers and acquisitions are likely to be done under the assumption that the gold price will increase in the longer term.”

My comment: I forgot to comment on the Kinross takeover of Aurelian as I sold my Aurelian shares a few days ago. Basically Kinross got a steal if and only if the new mining law in Ecuador ends up being relatively fair. I have to think they have some inside baseball as they are taking a big risk. Never the less you just get the feeling that the gold price and gold shares are getting ready to explode to the upside. Some takeover news could be the catalyst to get this move going. With the gold shares beaten down this is the perfect environment for a takeover mania to start.

Update
Bloomberg 9/24/08
Stewart Bailey and Rob Delaney

Barrick Gold Corp. Chairman Peter Munk said bullion prices will go higher, driven by large-scale buying by “major, major” holders of dollars who fear the effects of the U.S. government’s bailout plan on the currency.

“That impact on holders of U.S. dollars in China or Russia or Abu Dhabi or Kuwait is that they’re going to say, `What is that going to mean for the U.S. dollar, and what alternative are we going to have?”’ Munk said in an interview in New York. “So gold is going to have very powerful support.” Munk, 80, founded Toronto-based Barrick in 1983 and made it the world’s largest gold producer.

John Polomny
The Real Deal