Gold and silver miners hammered

It was bad enough that China disappointed the market with lower growth numbers coming in, the mining sector in general has been in a slump for some while, today they were hit hard again, but some of the biggest hits were the gold and silver miners. Gold itself had one of the biggest daily falls in a long time prompting some to suggest that it is now in a bear market, time will tell on that one, but the gold miners are now heading for falls that some haven't seen since the dark days of 2008.

Today's % falls:

Petropavlovsk - 24.01%
Fresnillo - 15.16%
Hochschild Mining - 8.37%
Randgold Resources - 8.33%

3 month change:


Petropavlovsk - 61.56%
Hochschild Mining - 46.62%
Fresnillo - 38.84%
Randgold Resources - 22.84%

More speculative African gold mining smaller company Avocet Mining is down 74.33% in 3 months.

Given current sentiment around gold and silver appears to be more negative, it is difficult to say if any of these represent a bargain at current levels or not. Technically, the charts look awful and patience is probably needed to wait for some more positive signs that the falls are over. These can go up as quick as they can fall, but right now it is guesswork as to when that turnaround is coming.