Amid power buying, trends and patterns from the 100 most popular listed mining names. JOHANNESBURG - Stock markets are flying just about everywhere; the MSCI world equities USD index is trading at 12-month highs, along with the MSCI emerging markets USD, as are the Dow Jones Industrial, S+P 500, and DJ Stoxx 600; some markets are lagging a little, as seen in China's CSI 300, and given general buoyancy there has been some profit-taking as seen in Russia's Micex Russia and the India Nifty. Most equities subsectors are also doing very well; in general, buying has the air of indiscrimination about it, with value-seeking discernible at the margin. Any kind of positive sign or story, and chances are that a stock dressed in the fashions of the moment will fly. A year ago, of course, the world was cluttered to paralysis with almost universal predictions that the world would end under the weight of a Great Depression of fatal proportions. So much for that; fast forward to today, and global mining stocks are cruising at healthy heights. The world's 100 most in-demand mining stocks are trading, on a weighted average, at less than 3% below 12-month highs. To a lesser extent as each month goes by, since troughs seen generally late in 2008, buying of mining stocks has become less discriminate relative to idiosyncratic underlying fundamentals. Dollar commodity metal prices, with the exception of gold bullion, suffered markedly during the so-called global credit markets crisis. This has provided leeway for remarkable recoveries from lows; zinc, lead, copper and palladium have risen more than 100% from dollar troughs. Tin, a small market, has experienced the smallest "bounce", followed by aluminum, which continues to suffer from poor supply-demand fundamentals, followed by gold bullion, which fell the least. Silver bullion has risen just short of 100% from the bottom.

METAL PRICES
Precious, USD/oz	Current	Low*	High*	From low	From high
Gold	1115.03	700.10	1123.38	59.3%	-0.7%
Platinum	1365.00	769.00	1382.25	77.5%	-1.2%
Palladium	346.25	160.75	351.30	115.4%	-1.4%
Silver	17.51	8.81	18.08	98.7%	-3.2%
Industrial, USD/lb
Copper	2.97	1.28	3.05	132.1%	-2.9%
Aluminium	0.89	0.58	0.96	53.6%	-7.1%
Lead	1.05	0.39	1.14	170.8%	-8.5%
Tin	6.68	4.40	7.22	51.8%	-7.6%
Nickel	7.64	4.08	9.67	87.2%	-21.0%
Zinc	0.99	0.47	1.07	110.4%	-7.7%
* 12-month

Silver stocks are some kind of a rage, in the positive sense. London-listed Fresnillo, the world's biggest primary silver digger, all of it in Mexico, has registered a price increase of nearly 900% in its stock price. Further specialised silver miners experiencing significant demand include S. Métallurgique d'Imiter, Silvercorp, JSC Polymetal, Silver Wheaton (a royalties entity), and Hecla Mining; even Cobar, something of an odd man out in Australia, is roaring along. Among gold stocks, recent buying trends have tended to "revert to the mean", with stronger demand for standard bearers and increasing profit taking among juniors. There has been solid buying of Newmont and Barrick, which among gold majors produced the most encouraging of recent third-quarter cash flow and operating reports. Further global Tier I gold diggers in firm demand include Polyus, Goldcorp, Gold Fields, and Yamana, which published relatively unimpressive third quarter numbers. Tier II gold names have also experienced good buying demand, as seen in pricing for Randgold Resources, Eldorado, Iamgold, Shandong Gold, Red Back, Eldorado and Petropavlovsk, now a diversified miner. Among the many listed smaller gold stocks, some very small, there have been good recent showings from the likes of Lucara, Peninsular Gold, Guyana Goldfields, Castle Gold, Avocet Mining, Sino Gold, and Royal Gold. Profit taking has been seen among names such as Ventana Gold, which currently stands nearly thirty thousand percent above its price of a year ago, holding a current market value of USD 1bn. Among platinum stocks, demand remains subdued, with the exception of the thinly-traded Zimplats. Beyond precious metals, there is excellent demand for diversified standard-bearers BHP Billiton, Vale, Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Xstrata; Teck and Oz Minerals, previously left for dead, are back with something of a vengeance. Demand for the world's biggest copper stocks continues unabated, featuring Freeport-McMoRan, Southern Copper, Antofagasta, KGHM Polska Miedź, Sterlite, and First Quantum, along with a good number of smaller names such as Philex, Pan Australian, Palamin, Taseko, and Citadel Resource. Coal stocks outside China have risen in popularity in the past few months, suggesting that investors are increasingly ready to take on greater risk, and to look for greater recoveries, percentage-wise, in stock prices than may be available from more "stable" subsectors such as gold equities. Coal names currently in the spotlight include Raspadskaya, Peabody Energy, Felix Resources, Whitehaven Coal, Southgobi, Massey Energy, Mongolia Energy, Adaro Energy, and Banpu. There is similarly good demand for iron ore stocks, especially towards the smaller end of the market capitalisation league: Iron Ore Holdings, Gippsland, African Minerals, Mount Gibson Iron, Aquila, and United Minerals. Demand for uranium stocks remains relatively restrained, Niger Uranium can be mentioned, but for now at least, the excitement in and around Extract Resources has apparently gone on holiday. With the only real exception of Norilsk, investors remain cautious around nickel and related stocks. There is more positive interest in stocks associated with zinc, such as Hunan, Inmet, Oz Minerals, Griffin Mining, and Hudbay Minerals. Investors are also indicating that convincing recovery is in sight for potash stocks, as seen particularly in the pricing for ICL, Silvinit, Sociedad Química, and Compass Minerals. Specialist molybdenum stocks such as Jinduicheng and Thompson Creek remain generally out of favour, along with tin stocks such as Yunnan Tin and Timah TBK PT. Interest in aluminium stocks is highly mixed, with solid demand for the likes of Kaiser Aluminium and National Aluminium standing in strong contrast to the relative indifference shown to the likes of Chalco, although Alcoa looks as if it may finally be on some kind of a comeback trail.

WORLD'S 100 MOST IN-DEMAND MINING STOCKS
	Stock	From	From	Value
	price	high*	low*	$bn
S. Métallurgique d'Imiter	MAD 1,074.00	0.0%	185.6%	2.313
Griffin Mining	GBP 0.50	0.0%	275.5%	0.149
Raspadskaya	USD 4.49	0.0%	523.6%	3.506
Molymet	CLP 7,550	0.0%	12.3%	1.704
Zimplats	AUD 11.00	0.0%	214.3%	1.102
Wits Gold	CAD 13.99	0.0%	249.8%	0.372
Lucara	CAD 1.20	0.0%	380.0%	0.113
Metallic Venture	CAD 1.18	0.0%	353.8%	0.059
Peninsular Gold	GBP 0.53	0.0%	275.0%	0.044
Loncor Resources	CAD 1.42	0.0%	846.7%	0.042
Erdene Resources	CAD 0.40	0.0%	233.3%	0.034
Luiri Gold	CAD 0.25	0.0%	900.0%	0.015
Silvercorp	CAD 6.48	-0.2%	444.5%	1.001
JSC Polymetal	USD 9.52	-0.3%	330.8%	2.999
Unique Mining	THB 22.70	-0.4%	196.7%	0.104
KGHM Polska Miedź	PLN 107.40	-0.5%	387.7%	7.738
Guyana Goldfields	CAD 6.60	-0.6%	982.0%	0.413
Castle Gold	CAD 1.21	-0.8%	706.7%	0.087
Banpu	THB 472.00	-0.8%	198.7%	3.850
Randgold Resources	USD 80.90	-0.9%	223.0%	7.246
Petropavlovsk	GBP 13.05	-0.9%	658.7%	3.696
Whitehaven Coal	AUD 4.25	-0.9%	377.5%	1.884
Imperial Metals	CAD 9.50	-0.9%	921.5%	0.291
Claude Resources	USD 0.97	-1.0%	709.0%	0.094
Avocet Mining	GBP 0.93	-1.1%	93.2%	0.298
Kiska Metals	CAD 0.91	-1.1%	506.7%	0.041
Fresnillo	GBP 8.94	-1.1%	860.8%	10.599
Red Back	CAD 15.88	-1.2%	351.1%	3.498
Canadian Royalties	CAD 0.79	-1.3%	426.7%	0.077
Sino Gold	AUD 7.69	-1.3%	206.4%	2.094
Silver Wheaton	USD 15.29	-1.4%	509.2%	5.217
Newmont	USD 51.24	-1.4%	142.0%	24.616
Saracen	AUD 0.35	-1.4%	525.0%	0.125
Rambler Metals	GBP 0.32	-1.5%	416.0%	0.032
United Minerals	AUD 1.26	-1.6%	320.0%	0.182
Adriana Resources	CAD 0.62	-1.6%	313.3%	0.043
Semafo	CAD 4.08	-1.7%	380.0%	0.976
Anglesey Mining	GBP 0.14	-1.8%	339.3%	0.035
Polyus	USD 31.82	-1.8%	523.9%	12.131
Kaiser Aluminium	USD 42.77	-1.9%	184.9%	0.867
Niger Uranium	GBP 0.39	-1.9%	940.0%	0.043
Goldcorp	USD 44.26	-1.9%	159.6%	32.429
Hunan	HKD 2.87	-2.0%	341.5%	0.605
Southgobi	CAD 14.20	-2.1%	255.0%	1.811
Freeport-McMoRan	USD 82.94	-2.1%	428.3%	35.654
Premier Gold	CAD 3.56	-2.2%	178.1%	0.281
Barrick	USD 43.07	-2.2%	125.4%	42.336
Medusa	AUD 3.95	-2.2%	863.4%	0.621
Iamgold	USD 17.97	-2.2%	568.0%	6.613
Summit Resources	AUD 2.14	-2.3%	60.9%	0.636
Massey Energy	USD 36.28	-2.3%	277.1%	3.104
Anglo American	GBP 24.74	-2.3%	173.1%	54.954
Mongolia Energy	HKD 4.18	-2.3%	144.4%	3.292
Adaro Energy	IDR 1,620.00	-2.4%	252.2%	5.507
Vedanta	GBP 23.81	-2.4%	563.7%	10.750
Virginia Mines	CAD 5.24	-2.4%	132.9%	0.147
Shandong Gold	CNY 75.11	-2.5%	362.2%	7.828
National Aluminium	INR 390.10	-2.5%	177.3%	5.394
Philex	PHP 19.50	-2.5%	487.3%	2.031
Far West Mining	CAD 3.85	-2.5%	654.9%	0.198
Hecla Mining	USD 5.52	-2.6%	457.6%	1.315
Yamana	USD 12.74	-2.7%	265.0%	9.342
Royal Gold	USD 50.97	-2.8%	87.2%	2.078
Palamin	ZAR 102.00	-2.8%	155.0%	0.663
Peabody Energy	USD 45.26	-2.8%	182.9%	12.122
Eldorado	USD 13.32	-2.8%	263.9%	5.330
Sterlite	USD 18.24	-2.9%	366.5%	15.328
Iron Ore Holdings	AUD 1.34	-2.9%	1295.8%	0.146
Hudbay Minerals	CAD 16.50	-2.9%	511.1%	2.418
Rio Tinto	GBP 31.04	-3.0%	277.6%	120.614
Ruukki Group	EUR 2.60	-3.0%	161.6%	1.013
Gippsland	AUD 0.06	-3.0%	166.7%	0.032
OM Holdings	AUD 1.92	-3.0%	190.2%	0.874
African Minerals	GBP 3.80	-3.1%	4122.2%	1.343
ICL	USD 12.50	-3.1%	177.8%	15.818
Cliffs Natural	USD 38.96	-3.1%	230.2%	5.103
Gold Resource	USD 9.35	-3.1%	343.1%	0.431
Impact Minerals	AUD 1.40	-3.1%	636.8%	1.401
Mount Gibson Iron	AUD 1.40	-3.1%	636.8%	1.401
Compass Minerals	USD 64.95	-3.1%	52.5%	2.117
Antofagasta	GBP 8.80	-3.1%	202.0%	14.350
Kingsgate	AUD 9.15	-3.2%	315.9%	0.822
Vale	USD 28.05	-3.2%	218.8%	148.356
Mineral Deposits	AUD 1.04	-3.3%	271.4%	0.550
Norseman Gold	GBP 0.59	-3.3%	3833.3%	0.168
Polaris Metals	AUD 0.74	-3.3%	950.0%	0.121
Taseko	CAD 3.49	-3.3%	428.8%	0.607
Assore	ZAR 700.00	-3.4%	118.8%	2.610
Allied Nevada	CAD 12.20	-3.5%	404.1%	0.667
Hindustan Zinc	INR 941.00	-3.5%	217.8%	8.532
Romarco	CAD 1.35	-3.6%	1073.9%	0.386
BHP Billiton	GBP 18.08	-3.6%	147.1%	189.587
Aquila	AUD 8.09	-3.7%	325.8%	1.875
Int'l Tower Hill	CAD 6.50	-3.7%	507.5%	0.359
Felix Resources	AUD 17.36	-3.7%	271.2%	3.177
Southern Copper	USD 35.02	-3.8%	284.0%	29.767
Mansfield Minerals	CAD 1.27	-3.8%	807.1%	0.053
Blue Sky Uranium	CAD 0.76	-3.8%	2433.3%	0.032
Teck	USD 32.76	-3.8%	1160.0%	18.979
Gold Fields	USD 14.65	-3.9%	185.6%	11.014
Averages/total		-3.3%	677.0%	944.823
Weighted averages		-2.8%	216.1%
* 12-month
Source: market data; table compiled by Barry Sergeant