The prices of gold and silver shares are derived from the price of their reference metals. The referral method has gone astray, akin to a renegade ETF.

Osiris Investment Partners L.P. in Boston, under the authorship of Principal and Managing Member Paul Stuka, wrote to clients on August 18, 2011. The XAU Gold Index was down 6% for the year-to-date, and the GDXJ Gold Stocks Index of smaller gold miners had fallen 10%. On that same mid-August date, gold — the real stuff that hardly anyone owns but of which everyone within the media’s range is expected to express an opinion — had risen 26% in 2011.