Transcription of Finance News Network Interview with Symposium Managing Director, Kerry Stevenson Carolyn Herbert: Hello I’m Carolyn Herbert for the Finance News Network and joining me from Symposium, to discuss the upcoming 2015 Precious Metals Investment Symposium in Sydney is Managing Director, Kerry Stevenson. Kerry, welcome back.
Kerry Stevenson: Thanks for having me; it’s good to be back.
Carolyn Herbert: At a time where commodity prices are extremely volatile, why has Symposium elected to focus on precious metals?
Kerry Stevenson: We have been holding the Precious Metals Investment Symposium for a few years now. But I think right now, at a time when debt levels seem to be increasing across the globe, share markets are increasingly volatile; really people need to get educated about where precious metals sit in their portfolio. And actually why they should be holding precious metals. We know that at some point, higher inflation may come about. And the fact of the matter is that precious metals do seem to hold their value against all other assets, when you’ve got that sort of volatility and potentially higher inflation.
Carolyn Herbert: Can you tell us a little bit about this year’s Precious Metals Symposium?
Kerry Stevenson: This year we’re not at Luna Park anymore. We’re going to the Four Seasons Hotel here in Sydney, on Monday the 26
th and Tuesday the 27
th of October. A little bit about the event; really it’s what I call from dirt to coin. So we have mining companies coming to present, Evolution Mining Limited
(ASX:EVN), Metals X Limited
(ASX:MLX), Excelsior Gold Limited
(ASX:EXG), Impact Minerals Limited
(ASX:IPT) and many others. We’ve also got keynote speakers coming from all around the world.
We’ve got people like Nick Giambruno from Casey Research; we’ve got John Butler from Amphora Capital. Now these guys really understand precious metals, they understand what’s happening in the world in terms of debt. And rather like Jim Rickards who’s written about currency wars, who’s been a speaker in the past, these speakers are going to educate people. We all know there’s a lot of debt in the world, everybody talks about property and they talk about things like that. But people are, in my opinion, a little bit unaware about where precious metals sit.
Carolyn Herbert: What sort of insights or advice will these speakers be providing?
Kerry Stevenson: Well it’s not necessarily providing advice. What they’re going to be doing, what I’m passionate about doing, is educating people about why they should be interested in precious metals. The fact of the matter is if you look back to 2011, when the gold price was at $US1923 I think it was, and we always talk in US dollars, there was a lot of excitement around precious metals at that time. I think now people need to understand more fully, about what is precious metals and why they’re important.
We’re not giving advice; we’re educating people. And also with the mining stocks, again if you look back in time, most goldminers have been smashed by up to 90 per cent. What a great time to have a look at some of these companies and get set, because in my view and I’m not a financial adviser, I always say that to people. I am an investor and I am an active investor, and this is my way of sharing my passion with other people. Why not get set, why not have a look at some of these companies.
Carolyn Herbert: I hear something else is going to be launched at the event. Can you tell us a bit about this?
Kerry Stevenson: Actually you’ll be the very first people to know and I’m really excited about this. I often and I just happen to have one here, this is a one ounce silver coin and this is the Kookaburra series coin. But the theme for this year’s Symposium is back to the asset of the future. It’s 30 years since ‘Back to the Future’ the movie was made. So we’re going to have the DeLorean car at the event, at the Symposium. But more importantly, we’re going to launch a Back to the Asset of the Future coin, a silver coin, a gold coin and a third one, which I’m actually going to leave you all in suspense with.
So that’s going to be launched, no one has seen it and it’s really exciting, once you see the packaging and how this coin is. There’ll be a limited number available for sale at the Symposium. But at 6 o’clock on Monday evening after we’ve done Day One, we’re going to blow people away, because it’s very theatrical. It’s very exciting and it’s something no one will have seen before, it’ll be a real collector’s item. So I’m so excited about that.
Carolyn Herbert: Finally Kerry. Where is the event again, what sort of turnout are you expecting and where can people buy tickets?
Kerry Stevenson: I think we’re going to get a big turnout this year. I’m actually pretty excited, there’s a lot of talk about precious metals at the moment, there’s a lot of talk about debt in the world. We’ve picked a perfect time to hold this event. It’s on Monday the 26
th and Tuesday the 27
th of October, at the Four Seasons Hotel here in Sydney. And people can purchase tickets online at goldevent.com.au. Nice and simple, goldevent.com.au.
Carolyn Herbert: Kerry Stevenson, thanks for the update and we’ll see you at the Symposium.
Kerry Stevenson: Thanks for having me.
Ends
