Gold/Silver Mining Shares - Value Stocks or Liquidation Candidates?

For anyone holding Gold/Silver mining shares, today was probably almost as painful as Monday (4/15). The following closing 4:00 PM ET NYSE prices tell the story:

Here are today’s closing marks in selected major Gold/Silver issues, with changes from Tuesday’s close:

                                                                                    Wednesday’s Closing Prices              

GLD ETF                                                          132.87            +0.07               +0.05%

SLV ETF                                                           22.44              -0.22                -0.50%

Newmont Mining (NEM)                                    32.36             -1.42                -4.20%

Barrick Gold (ABX)                                           17.65             -1.21                -6.42%

Coeur D’alene Mines Corp (CDE)                     13.52             -1.46                 -9.75%

First Majestic Silver Corp (AG)                          10.97             -0.93                -7.82%

And here are the latest available physical Gold/Silver coin sales data from the U.S. Mint, as updated today 4/17:

2013 April sales of Gold coins (Month-to-date thru April 17^th)                              147,000 oz.

2012 April sales of Gold coins (entire month of April 2012)                                    20,000 oz.

2013 April sales of Silver coins (Month-to-date thru April 17^th)                          2,387,000 oz

2012 April sales of Silver coins (entire month April 2012)                                  1,520,000 oz.

If this information doesn’t look right to you, please check it out for yourself at:

http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/american_eagles/?action=sales&year=2013

Connecting America through Coins

Bottom Line: Investor purchases of gold and silver coins from the U.S. Mint have skyrocketed. April 2013 sales of gold coins (in total ounces) so far in just ½ month have totaled more than all of 2013 February and March combined. April 2013 gold coin sales (in total ounces) in just ½ a month are more than 7 times the amount sold in all of April of last year. While silver coin sales comparisons are less spectacular than gold coin sales comparisons, they are still incredible none-the-less. However, despite this undeniable feeding frenzy in the physical precious metals, we are still witnessing a massive selling capitulation in precious metals mining shares that has to be at or near record proportions. Earlier tonight, Gold/Silver prices in Singapore were sharply lower again around 9:00 PM ET, but I would not be surprised to see a major V-shaped bottom in this market beginning tomorrow. In the interest of full disclosure, I am long the following stocks: AG, EXK, GG, and GDXJ.