A shrewd exit, or dumb luck?

Today I finally closed one of the most frustrating positions in my portfolio for a profit, Goldplat (GDP:LN). This company has been a continual disappointment throughout the 6 years I’ve held it, repeatedly running into operating problems which turned a profitable business into a loss making one in recent years.

Goldplat is not (just) a gold miner. Most of its operations are recovering gold from waste products. As such, I originally thought of it as a useful hedge against economic meltdown, as it benefits from a rising gold price, but also can (in theory) make profits during low gold price periods too.

That, at least, turned out to be true. The current turmoil coupled with a nice half year operating update announcing it had sold its loss-making mine meant this business finally almost reached my valuation this week.

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