South Africa ’s power cuts are serious. There is no doubt about that. A contact, who recently returned from a business trip to Johannesburg, says outages were happening for between two and four hours a day.

It may be a neighbour of Zimbabwe, but Botswana is not the basket-case you might expect. In fact, it is anything but! In the forty years since diamonds were first found there, Botswana has had a facelift that most countries on the continent can only dream of.

It used to be that gold stocks outperformed the rise in the gold price by roughly a factor of three. But then energy prices went up, and the lights went out in South Africa.

‘Check out the new Harmony uranium venture. It’s looking interesting…’ My ears pricked up. It is the most positive thing I have heard from any of my contacts in South Africa for a good few months. As I told Erin, it could not be more up-to-the minute, having both uranium and gold!

Why are we only just hearing about Ecuador? Isabel and I think it must be down to that age-old maxim that good news doesn’t sell newspapers. A really shocking thing has just happened to miners in Ecuador and suddenly there’s information all over! The government has revoked mining concessions!

Bargains sometimes come with risk. So is now the time to seriously consider investing in companies or funds with an interest in the mineral rich but troubled nation of Zimbabwe.

Not that it’s got a lot of publicity, but terrible things are continuing to happen to platinum production. That’s made me and Isabel pretty pleased! The platinum price is trending very nicely upwards.

Prices give the rankings. Diamonds generally come top. Ruby and emerald are also priced higher than a top quality sapphire, due to their rarity. For a one-carat ruby stone the bill is likely to be between $250 and $10,000 per carat. Truly quality gems will cost more.