Veering towards Mongolia...

Overall, my portfolio has been down a few percentage points due to market downturn. But my general direction, "veering towards Mongolia" is correct. Market also behaves in a certain way which is very predictable, that is, when someone with a deep pocket moves into the registry, the other investors become instantly keen on that stock.

AKM is a coal explorer in Mongolia. With 'interest' from a much bigger company, Ivanhoe, it has sprung to life, far more than I anticipated. Bought at 14c, now 31.5c a month later. Investors don't seem to realize that Mongolia is next door to China. I am glad that geography is useful for investment!

The only Mongolian stock that has not moved much since I dabbled into 4 Mongolian stocks (HUN, VOR, AKM and GMM) listed on the ASX just recently is GMM. And this one is into potash. BHP wants potash so there will be 'movement' in GMM share price when people discover it had been looking for the hot stuff and found it in Mongolia.... and it is next door to China.

Actually, I knew about Mongolia a long time ago but the government was being very stupid until recently. The current president holds an MBA from Harvard if I am not mistaken. You cannot expect miners to develop your mineral wealth for charity sake. After awarding exploration rights, when minerals were discovered in huge quantities, the government changed the contracts and wanted to virtually nationalize the mines. So nothing happened for a long time while the miners wait for the dust to settle. And then Robin Bromby, the ASX Guru and a clever poster at Hotcopper came along to tell me what shares to buy. These are free tips! Anyone listening?