With our share portfolio in free-fall there’s not much good news coming out of Investor Trader for the moment. That is unless you consider Investor Trader’s new colour scheme news-worthy?

I had hope for Berkeley Mineral Resources (BMR.L) when I fleetingly glanced over last Thursday’s Kabwe tailings JORC results RNS pre market-open. But irrespective of what nuggets it contained, deep down I think I knew the market was always going to shrug its shoulders and continue its southerly trajectory.

The news? Well on the plus side we’re sitting on a higher grade of lead.

Masoud Alikhani, Chairman of BMR had this to say:

“We have confirmed the content of the leach plant tailings to the JORC Measured Standard, and the dumps contain a considerably higher grade of lead than that inferred by the historic assessments. This combined with the Wash Plant tailings gives BMR a significant asset and it is our intention to now begin to maximise its value.

“To this end we have strengthened our management team in Zambia commensurate with our expanding operations in the country. The next stage is to bring the site into production”.

Though on the flip side we only received results for the “central section of the leach plant tailings” despite being promised a little more – a fact that didn’t go unnoticed by many private investors venting on BMR bulletin boards.

Where do I stand? Of course I’d love it if we were powering on plus 10 pence but we’re not.  I’m still loving Berkeley’s direction and to be honest I’m not overly concerned with where the price is at for the minute. When you look at where Berkeley has come from in such a short space of time, you have to forgive them the occasional PR faux pas. I’d love to keep averaging down but unlike the US, I can’t just print me some extra cash.

I feel for many private investors who are into Berkeley deep, but there’s a few factors that help me sleep at night – and at 45% of our portfolio we’re in pretty deep too. I think there’s a long, long way to go with Berkeley and there will be a good news trail to document it. Sooner or later we’ll see a general market correction. When the price does turn – and in my humble there is no doubt it will – it has the potential of turning quickly and dramatically. Losses are only losses when they’re realised. And there’s no way I’m selling in the short term.

On a positive our gold play is killing it, although I must admit to just a touch of nervousness over the weekend as the US attempted to solve it’s debt crisis. But like that was going to happen with an election year in 2012. So political posturing ensured that the debt crisis was hidden behind the couch (okay, there’ll be no default but come on) rather than solved and as a result the gold’s price ascent barely missed a step.

Gold opened slightly lower on Monday but has today again powered on to new highs above $1,640 an ounce. We’re in at £20 a point from an average of $1,530, so we’re currently up over £2,000 in a matter of weeks with our friends over at City Index.

For those of you looking at taking up a position in gold, silver or any commodity for that matter, City Index has a wonderful trading platform and some of the tightest spreads in the industry. Just so you know, if you use any of the links of Investor Trader I do get a little kickback, so thanks in advance if you do sign up. You’re keeping me off the streets.

Let’s hope that my next post contains a little more good share news. Here’s hoping that whatever you’re holding, things are on up the up. Thanks again for dropping by.