Here are the most read and most listened-to articles and Bearcasts on ShareProphets over the past seven days. The most read non-Quiz, non-Tom article last week is by Nigel Somerville, The View From The Montana Log-Cabin As Gold Settles Back But Holds $1900 at No 2 or No 2 including Bearcasts.

Give or take a few mistakes, this is the 70,000th article on ShareProphets. Where else do you get as much information  and drama for only £6.99 per month? Anyway, the most read non-Quiz, non-Tom article last week is by Nigel Somerville, The View From The Montana Log-Cabin As Gold Tests $1900, at No 4 or No 12 including Bearcasts.

The most read non-Quiz, non-Tom article last week is by Chris Bailey, More headlines for BT Group's long-suffering shareholders to think about, at No 1 or No 2 including Bearcasts.

The Pub Quiz was number one last week, and that's very satisfying even if it only happened becuase I had to reload as I screwed up on 2 of the 10 questions. But the most read non-Quiz, non-Tom article last week was  Short gold, I am by Lucian Miers at No 2 or No 8 including Bearcasts.

The most-read non-Tom non-Quiz article this week is The View From The Montana Log-Cabin As Gold Drops Below $2,000 by Nigel Somerville at No 2 or No 4 including Bearcasts.

The most-read non-Tom non-Quiz article this week is Postcard From The Montana Log-Cabin: Is Tom Winnifrith Right To Question Gold Juniors? by Nigel Somerville at No 1 or No 3 including Bearcasts.

The most-read non-Tom non-Quiz article this week is The View From The Montana Log-Cabin As Gold Puts In A Record Monthly Close….Or Does It? by Nigel Somerville at No 6 or No 12 including Bearcasts.

The most-read non-Tom article this week is by Chris Bailey, Gold: you're indestructible (even if the price goes down sometimes)  at No 6 or No 14 including Bearcasts.

Merry Christmas Share Folks. Being a believer in God is a bit like buying shares. You know in your heart your choice will shine, but you can't be sure.  But if you don't buy the shares then you can’t benefit if your company hits the big time. This old punter admires the confidence and courage of atheists. Because if they’ve got it wrong, they’ll have missed out on the jackpot of eternal bliss. Quite some loss to suffer, don't you think?

Gold finished the week at $1798, having been as high at $1803 – nicely up on last week’s $1756. Gold mining stocks too headed further up as the recovery since the September low continued, as can be seen on my chart of Gold versus the Gold mining ETFs GDX (major), GDXJ (juniors) and GOEX (explorers):

Diego Parrilla is an author, engineer and economist and a gold bug.

Ariana Resources (AAU) has announced “a tremendous enhancement for Tavsan, as construction continues on site” as this project is further progressed as a second 23.5% interest gold mining operation here.

Gold finished the week at $1756, up a tiny smidgeon on last week’s $1751 but essentially unchanged in a week of little US economic data. Gold equities fared a little better and put in another new recent high to continue the run since late September.

Bluebird Merchant Ventures (BMV) has issued an update after a management trip to South Korea and having also further progressed local partner negotiations in the Philippines.

Asset manager Michael Gayed discusses how insane this year has been and how this is the only year in history where treasuries have lost more money than stocks. The only period it can be compared with is 1931. We’re in very abnormal territory. 1931 was a pretty terrible time too, yet too many folks think this is business as usual.

In September 2015 with its shares at 53p Condor Gold (CNR), backed by my old pal Jim Mellon, announced that to maximise shareholder value it was putting itself up for sale. But with no takers by January 2016 and with its shares back at 20p it called the process off. Today: guess what? It is up for sale again! The shares are now 24p! So much progress in almost seven years!

The great lie pushed by those supporters of bitcoin and other crypto currencies was that supply of bitcoin was limited by the halving formula. So, we were assured that while promoters of shares or funds or any other asset would always match demand with new supply, bitcoin was different. Of course, that was just misleading.

Gold finished the week at $1751, down a notch from last week’s $1771 but still well up on recent lows, having put in a high point of $1785 on Wednesday. US economic data offered little to cheer about, and the US treasury market continues to ring all manner of alarm bells. Despite that, US equity markets finished the week on a bit of a high – but for how long?

Centamin (CEY) has announced what it emphasises as “a significant step towards delivering on our commitment to consistently produce 500,000 ounces per annum from the Sukari Gold Mine”.

We’ve recently noted we’re looking for depressed precious and related metals sector sentiment to turn as the production returns still being generated at current prices become clearer and US dollar strength and interest rate hikes expectations prospectively ease. Meanwhile, Anglo Asian Mining (AAZ) recently announced “production figures remain robust, with total production of 14,309 gold equivalent ounces in the quarter” and that it “is making excellent progress on the development of its future new mines”. We see significant further recovery potential, more than 33%, from a current 88p offer price.

One of the few serious financial podcasters who swears more than me is Chris Irons, aka Quoth the raven. His latest soundings on gold and shitcoins are music to my ears.

Kefi Gold & Copper (LSE:KEFI), a gold and copper mine developer with projects in Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia is a company whose shares we think could double by Christmas and here is why.

Ariana Resources (AAU) has issued an update on the work programmes in Turkey it has interests in, emphasising that it is “highly encouraged by the simultaneous and substantial progress being made” on the projects by its 23.5%-owned joint venture.

Gold closed the week at $1771 – strongly up on last week’s $1683 and way better that the recent low around $1620 notched up at the beginning of the month. The US$ has slipped off its perch too: is it (at last) all change?

Kefi Gold & Copper (KEFI) has announced that it “is extremely pleased to note the announcement of a permanent end to hostilities in Northern Ethiopia and expresses its determination to do whatever is possible within its business mandate to contribute to the economic recovery plans set by the Ethiopian Government”. We suggest the news bodes very well for near-term progress of the Tulu Kapi gold project for the company.

On Friday we wrote an article HERE on 4 shares we thought could double by Christmas. One of the four is Bluebird Merchant Ventures (BMV) at a 1.8p offer.

Gold closed the week at $1683, up nicely from last week’s $1646 and back above the apparently all-important $1675 mark. But perhaps the real surprise is that it rose at all, given that the Fed again hiked interest rates by another 0.75% to 3.75-4% and warned of more pain to come. Normally, that would see the yellow stuff weaken, given that the yield on Gold is zero. But instead, someone lit the blue touch-paper.

Francis Hunt, Founder of “The Market Sniper”  Francis, discusses how demand for physical metal appears to be increasing significantly in the United Kingdom. He says that a lot of interest is coming from those in the financial industry and some of those customers have expressed concerns about their employer’s stability. He says that self-directed pensions in the U.K. are also seeing a move away from equities and into custodial backed physical metals.

Author and political risk analyst Larry McDonald says that he is concerned about the impacts of rate hikes in Japan and around the world. Central banks are very nervous because they can’t assess the damage inflicted by their policies for many months.

Hello Share Seekers. Some financial analysts seem to have given up tipping shares altogether, unless they’re recommending shorting them. This old punter rarely suggests you sell shares, so I find it rather hard to find companies to bring before you in these dangerous days. But let’s try a gold miner I rather like the look of.

I prepare for Halloween with pumpkin carving and soup today. Photos tomorrow.  Sohail says he has given up on gold "experts". I discuss this and then onto another area where there are a lot of "experts" who all talk their own book and it is the same one. I discuss house prices, volumes and stocks who I reckon will have a bad time includfing Purplebricks (PURP) which I expect to go bust in 2024, or possibly sooner