There was not much fanfare when Statistics SA announced a 1.8% contraction in the domestic economy for Q4 2008. Instead, the gathered economists poured a handful of sand over the coffin carrying South Africa Inc. Growth in the third quarter of last year was an equally unflattering 0.2% a – and there are those who suggest a pending restatement of that number will confirm the country’s technical recession.

For years, one of the driving forces of the global boom has been China’s willingness to lend Americans the money they needed to buy goods made in China. The global slump promises to push this relationship to breaking point. Just as US consumers have decided to stop buying – well, anything really – the US needs China’s backing more than ever.

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Since I started writing my investment advisory over 10 years ago, the economics of the gold mining business have never looked better to me. Before we go further, realise mining is a hard business. Gold miners process tons of rock for only a fraction of an ounce of gold. It's complex, costly, and risky. The gold price is also volatile and will have you browning your undies if you're not prepared for it. So just a word of caution here about the inherently speculative nature of gold mining stocks.