Harry yes I believed the NEM were worth retaining after the Normandy T/O - the reason being that,as you stated the top tier producers are the ones one expects to have minimal risk and reasonable leverage to a rising Au price.
I thought that about when price was back in higher $200s. Consequently held Barrick,Newmont and my emerging star at the time DOM. DOM is the one that outperformed them by a mile,mainly due to specific factors to the Challenger Gawler Craton area and DOMs minnow status and the different market fundamentals of the compared companies- that is accepted.
I am still however convinced that better value is available to the investor in response to a rising gold price by emerging and/or small producers with lower costs, albeit where one must actively manage them. I'd be pleased to accept suggestions where this is fundamentally incorrect but with the open ended continuum of the gold price predicted by some pundits there wont be a lot of difference to returns of either type of beast if the bulls'predictions eventuate in the near to mid term.
Cheers Joe
NEM Price at posting:
$5.02 Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held